She & Him
by janey's got a gun
Summary: AU/HSfic Chris is new in town but he isn't quite settled. Without much effort, he is labeled the delinquent of town, and decides to live up to the name, until he goes too far. He meets everyone including Jill and is taken through a ride of his life...
1. Leaving Home Ain't Easy

**I wasn't too sure what to call this fic, so at the moments it's titled **_**Tsundere**_**. If you don't know what it means, its definition is: **_**A Japanese character archetype that describes a conceited, spiky, combative personality that later on turns to being modest and loving. **_**In anime or manga, its usually a female character who is like this, but males can be it too, but its very rare…meh, just google the word if you want more info because I can go on and on about it. **

**Summary: **Basically, this story takes place during their adolescent years. Chris and his family just moves to Raccoon City and already, he gets into a heap of trouble because his reluctance to move.

**Anyhoo, for the purpose of this fic, some of character's age ranges do not coincide with their RE game counterparts or whatever…I tried to make most of it the same, but seriously…meh…the first couple of chapters focus mainly on Chris…so yeah…Don't own nothing, nor do I make any profit or whatever out of these so don't bug me about these disclaimers and such…**

**Chapter 1: **Leaving Home Ain't Easy

Chris stood in the middle of his room as he observed his surroundings. He was in an entirely new and foreign environment and he hated everything about it. The color of the walls, the smell of the air, the texture of the carpet beneath his feet, the grains of the doors; he found every little thing he could just so he can despise it. In a different circumstance, he could learn to like the place, but it wasn't so. He took a deep breath and got up from his bed and began to get ready for the new day that was ahead of him.

"Damn," Chris cursed to get the attention of his father, who was sitting at the table in the kitchen. "I still don't understand why we had to move…and to a hick town in the middle of nowhere? This is bullshit." He said as he threw his bag on the counter to display his anger.

"If you don't like it here, you're welcome to leave, but without my support." His father said as he kept his eyes glued to the newspaper.

"It sucks here." Chris replied. At 17, he should've been passed his whiny, rebellious years and focusing on his plans for the future but his attitude remained the same since his father started seeing the woman that took the place of his mother, which was about 8 years ago.

"You've only been here two days." His dad said in a somewhat less than amusing tone.

"It's long enough to know I don't like it." Chris said as he grabbed a bowl and poured himself some Coco Puffs. "Seriously, how would you like it if I uprooted you from your home and away from your friends?"

"I'd probably be as whiny as you." His father said as he turned the page.

"He just misses Sarah." Claire said as she walked into the kitchen. "Morning daddy." She greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.

"Morning pumpkin. Who is Sarah?" His dad asked as he held his daughter in arms length and examined her in her school uniform. "You look absolutely beautiful." He commented.

"Thank you." Claire smiled and plopped down on the seat next to Chris. "Sarah is this girl he _thinks _he's in love with." Claire replied cheekily.

"Thanks pea brain." Chris glared at his younger sister.

"Welcome." Claire smiled. She loved getting on Chris's cases; for one, she found him extremely easy to rile up due to his short temper and two, he would never lay a finger on her. The closest case of sibling abuse she ever received was a noogie. She didn't quite understand why her brother was so protective of her, but she feels it was brought upon after the death of their mother, but she was too young to remember anything.

"Claire, are you ready to go?" A woman called from the hall.

"Yep." Claire called out just when the woman entered the kitchen.

"Honey, have you seen my keys?" She asked, referring to the older Redfield.

"Yeah, its on the table right in front of the door." He replied.

"Thanks. I'll see you tonight. Let's go Claire."

"Coming." Claire plopped off the chair and followed right behind her.

"_So are you ready for your first day at a new school?_" Chris heard her ask Claire as they walked off.

"_As ready as I'll ever be._" Claire smiled up at her. "_But I never went to a private school before. How do I look in a uniform?_"

"_You look beautiful sweat heart._"

"You know, she's been nothing but nice to you. Can't you at least show some effort?" His father brought his wandering mind back to the kitchen. Chris looked as if he was about to respond but decided against it. "Well, you better get going too, otherwise you'll be late." Chris's dad said.

"Why, because I have to walk to school? Seriously this is ridiculous. You're not even married to her I don't understand why _we_ had to move with _her_ just because she got a job here."

"Son, I know the transition is hard for you, but you'll understand some day that you have to make sacrifices for the ones you love. You know, after your mom pas…"

"I don't want to get into this. I'm out." Chris grabbed his bag and walked out. Before continuing down the walkway, he took one good look around and sighed. He shook his head as to clear his thoughts and proceeded to the sidewalk.

"LOOOK OUUUUUT!!!" He heard someone yell from his left. He turned to look but was immediately knocked over by some guy who was going about 13mph down line. Chris felt like a football team just tackled him. His head pounded as he tried to get his eyes to focus.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry. I tried to stop but…" A guy on rollerblades began to apologize.

"It's alright." Chris said as he sat up, hoping the pain in his throbbing head would subside soon.

"I'm really, really sorry."

"Don't worry, it's alright. It's gonna take a lot more than that to _knock_ me out." Chris said.

"Son, are you alright? I saw what happened." His dad came running out of this house.

"I'm fine." He said as he dusted his sleeves off.

"Maybe I should take you to the clinic. You might have a concussion or something."

"Mister, I'm really sorry about your son. I'll pay for the bill if anything!" The guy on rollerblades offered.

"I said I'm fine." Chris said a little louder as he got up.

"Okay, but if you don't feel well later on, you give me a call alright?" Chris could hear the concern in his father's voice.

"Yeah." Chris said as his father went back inside.

"Dude, I'm really sorry." The guy apologized again.

"Forget about it." Chris said as he picked up his messenger bag and made his way down the sidewalk.

"Hey, you're new here aren't you?" The guy rolled after him.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah I just moved here." Chris said as he continued to walk.

"Cool, where from?" He asked as he tried to keep a slow pace with Chris.

"New York."

"Nice. Never been there…hope to though."

"Great." Chris said unenthusiastically.

"Name's Joseph Frost." He introduced himself.

"Chris Redfield."

"Short for Christian?"

"No, the other one." Chris said. He didn't feel much like talking to him, but Joseph persisted.

"So where you headed?" Joseph asked.

Chris eyed him before responding. "North Spencer Preparatory."

Joseph clicked his tongue and scrunched his face. "A preppy, huh."

"It wasn't my choice." Chris said.

"Yep, well I guess all preppies can't be that bad." Joseph chuckled.

"What makes you say that?" Chris asked.

"Well, your first words weren't, '_I'm going to sue you for all you've got.'_" Joseph laughed.

"Makes sense." Chris said.

"Hey come on, lets check out Brentwood. Its just around the corner." Joseph quickly changed the subject.

"That's the girl's private school yeah?"

"How'd you know?"

"My uh…my sister goes there." Chris said.

"Figures since you go to Spencer." Joseph said as they turned the corner. "Come on, we better hurry." Joseph skated off.

"What's the hurry?" Chris asked.

"You preps ask too many questions. Come on!" Joseph said.

"If I knew I was going to run into someone rollerblading, I would've grabbed some wheels too." Chris struggled to keep up with Joseph, especially with the nice shoes he was wearing.

"Cool man, you skate?" Joseph asked.

"Not really. I didn't think anybody did anymore. Rollerblade that is!" Chris shouted.

"Hey, it beats running." Joseph said.

"Yeah, I guess." Chris said as Joseph came to a halt and stared into the campus. "So this is Brentwood?"

"That it is my friend…WHOO! I could camp out here all day_…_" Joseph said as they stood behind the gates and watched the girls enter the building. "Look at all the pretties…" Joseph said with much excitement. "Oh shit, there's Wong. She is just…she has this _mystery_ to her. She is so hot!"

"Right..." Chris said.

"You're not into girl watching?! Are you…"

"You even finish that sentence, I'll punch you." Chris responded.

"Oh dude, there's Ashley Graham, the governor's daughter. I heard her father wants to run for President…She's pretty cute though. I have to admit, I have a soft spot for blondes with long legs." Joseph said.

"You sound like a stalker." Chris shook his head.

"Oh man, there's Valentine! She's…I mean, there are no words that can describe her! I just want to wrap my arms around her or brush her hair and feed her strawberries."

Chris looked at Joseph as if he was an alien. "Is she a Barbie or a person?"

"Okay, I get it, I sound a little too obsessive, but she's just, she's just really, really pretty. Too bad though…she's dating some college guy, or so I've heard." Chris didn't pay too much attention to the last part Joseph said because he thought he was clinically insane, nor did he get a good glimpse of any of the girls he pointed out.

"Well, you can stay here and watch your 'pretties.' I'm gonna go, I don't want to be late." Chris said. Just as he turned away from the fence he bumped into one of the students who was running a little late. "Oh shit, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there." He bent down to help her with her books.

"Its alright. Don't worry about it." She said as she looked up and accepted a book from Chris.

"Stalking the area are we?" She smiled.

"Um, no, I was just pas…" Chris began but she cut him off.

"I haven't seen your face around here, are you new here?" She asked.

"Not to _this_ school, no. But yeah, I just moved here." Chris smiled.

"From New York." Joseph stuck his head in.

She smiled as she took in the sight of him. As a woman of 16, she certainly didn't mind what she was seeing before her. She stuck out her index finger and Chris watched as she lightly ran her finger up his chest until she reached the base of his necktie and gave it a little tug. "A Spencer preppy, huh, well welcome to Raccoon City. I'm Alyssa Ashcroft." She put on her best smile, which Chris found rather cute.

He took one step back and out of 'firing' range, before he replied. "Chris…and I really have to get going otherwise we'll both be late." He managed to smile.

"You're right." She took another step forward to close the gap between them. "But it's not like you Spencer boys can't get away with it." She tapped his nose as if it was a button while Chris gave a hearty chuckle. "We should hang out sometime." She winked at him and proceeded into campus.

"Dude, she was all over you! And she winked too!" Joseph said as they continued down the road.

"So?" Chris was not amused.

"Dude, it's a _tell_. She's in to you." He pointed to him with both index fingers.

"Right." Chris chuckled and tried to ignore Joseph as they made their way to school. It was extremely difficult as he had something to say about everything. He had to endure five more minutes of that until they finally had to part ways.

"See you around." Joseph said.

"Yeah." Chris said as he parted and made his way to North Spencer Preparatory School.

**----**

Chris finally arrived at his destination and stared at the building behind the tall gates. He sighed and proceeded to the gate where he had to get clearance from security. He hated the place already, why his father sent him there was an answer beyond him. The school had a gloomy appearance about it. As he entered through the double oak doors and made his way to the office, he noticed how stuck up some of the boys were at this school. It was probably because their parents were important people. He didn't care though. He would only have to endure this place for a year and he would be gone. After getting his schedule, he found his first class with ease and made it there on time. He walked in and sat down on the first available seat he found. He then closed his eyes and leaned back while he waited for the other seats to fill.

"You're in my seat." Someone said. He opened his eyes to see a blonde guy with slicked back hair hovering above him.

Chris looked around before he responded. "I don't see a name on it."

"Everyone knows I sit here." He said.

"Well, I'm not everyone. So why don't you 'write' your name on a chair elsewhere, huh?" Chris said with ease.

"You're going to regret it." He said in a weird accent that Chris couldn't quite pinpoint.

"Mr. Ashford, would you take a seat already? You're holding up the class." The teacher said.

Alfred Ashford clenched his teeth at the sight of Chris and stalked off to find an empty seat. Chris shook his head; he hated this stuck up place already. The school day just started and he just couldn't wait to get out. Finally, after going from class to class, the bell that signaled the end of the day finally rang. He sighed as he picked up his bag and proceeded out, not bothering to stop by his locker to pick up any additional books for homework. Once he was out of the gate, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He was about to light a stick when someone from behind called out.

"I said I was going to make you regret it." The Ashford boy he remembered from his first class said. He turned around, but before he could reply, another person punched him in the face. Because of the element of surprise, he went down on one knee. When he looked up to see who actually punched him, he saw that he was surrounded by seven guys, some who he remembered from some of his classes such as Alfred Ashford, William Birkin, James Marcus and Nicholai Ginovaef, the Russian exchange student. '_This is ridiculous._' Chris thought as he got up and looked at everyone.

"This is the guy who's giving you trouble?" The blonde guy with sunglasses asked. Chris never saw him before. He had a calm, yet cool appearance and off the bat, Chris could tell that they would not get along at all.

"Yeah, but he won't be for long." Alfred snickered.

"Alright, let's make these quick." Another blonde guy with a scar above his eye said as he popped his knuckles then quickly punched Chris in the face.

"Make him cry Jack!" Alfred said as he hid behind William.

"Get off me!" William said as he pushed Alfred aside.

He shook the stinging feeling away. He was ready to start throwing punches but considering the odds were against him, he decided to take a different approach by verbally pissing them off. He looked at each of them again and noticed how every one of them had different shades of blonde hair. "Are you guys supposed to be the 'Blonde-Boys' gang or something?" Chris snickered when he said that.

"Are we the what?" Another muscular blonde guy with short hair said as he chuckled lightly. "You have a smart mouth don't you?"

"I can't say that I have. I mean, my _brain_ tells me what to say and my mouth just moves…or something along those lines." Chris said as he assessed the situation. '_Damn, there's just no way I'm going to win this fight. I have to make a run for it._' He thought as he looked for an exit.

"Come here you little shit!"

"Yeah, get him Hunk!" Alfred said.

"Your name is _Hunk_?" Chris began to chuckle. "Well, you look mighty ugly to me. Why someone chose to call you that is beyond me." Chris laughed harder.

"It's a nickname asshole. And you should know that I also go by _Mr. Death_." Hunk said.

"Am I supposed to feel threatened?" Chris said coolly as he ran his hand through his hair.

"That's it, I'm gonna kick your ass, pretty boy!" Hunk said through gritted teeth as he cocked back his hand, ready to let his fist fly.

"Wait!" The guy with sunglasses said.

"Wesker come on! Let's just kick his ass and get it over with. I haven't had a good beating in a week!" Hunk said.

"You don't know the first thing about hunting do you?" He paused as he shifted his sunglasses. "The predator always plays with his prey before he goes in for the kill."

'_Shit, I better do something fast or I'm going get my ass handed to me in a paper bag._' Chris thought.

"Look at him, he's getting nervous." James said.

"Dude, he's not worth it, let's just get out of here." William said.

"What the hell! If he was the one who insulted you, you wouldn't be saying that!" Alfred said.

"Alfred, I'm not in America long time, but you complain always." Nicholai said.

'_Screw it! They're distracted, now's the time!_' Chris thought. He quickly kicked the boy named Hunk in the groin, then moved to elbow Jack in the ribs. Then he threw a quick punch to the guy they called Wesker and the quickly made a run for it while everyone got lost in the pain and confusion.

"CHRIS!!!!" Wesker yelled.

"Get him. Get him!" Alfred yelled. Wesker turned to Alfred with a menacing stare and punched him.

"You!" He pointed to him, while Alfred cradled his face. "You brought this upon us!" Wesker was about to say more but decided against it. He then looked at his boys and signaled him to follow him.

Chris was halfway down the block when he noticed that they were not going to pursue him. He slowed his pace and took a deep breath. "Damn, its gonna be a long year." He said to himself as he proceeded home.

**----**

Chris entered his house as quietly as he could. He didn't want to run into anybody and have to explain his face. "Chris is that you?" '_Busted'_ he stopped right after he passed the entrance to the kitchen. "Your dad and Claire went grocery shopping but they should be back soon."

"Yeah, okay." Chris said without turning around. His eye was focused on the staircase, waiting for his moment to just bolt upstairs.

"He also said that your 'package' was delivered around noon. He left put it in the garage." She smiled, knowing full well that he would be extremely happy to open it up.

Chris turned around with a huge smile on his face. "It's here? Seriously?" He said excitedly.

"What happened to your face?" She asked. '_Busted.' _He thought once again. "Did this happen at school? How come we weren't notified?" She reached out to examine the cut above his eye.

"Abigail, I'm fine, don't worry." He told her as he avoided her hand. She had a stern expression on her face, wanting an explanation. "Alright, it happened this morning. Some guy on rollerblades knocked me down. You can even ask my dad. He saw the whole thing."

"Fine." She said in defeat. "Dinner is at 6:30. Don't be late." She sighed. There was no point in arguing with him. If he didn't like the outcome, he would go against it anyways.

Chris glanced at his watch and smiled. "6:30, gotcha." He dropped his bag in the hall and proceeded out.

"Shouldn't you change out of your uniform first?" She asked.

"Good idea." He said as he looked at his attire.

"Bag please." She said before he ran upstairs. Chris didn't say a word. He grabbed his bag from off the floor and ran upstairs to change while Abigail went into the kitchen. Chris barged into his room, threw his bag on the floor and changed into a pair of loose fitted jeans, a t-shirt and some sneakers. He then grabbed his leather jacket and ran downstairs and out of the house.

"Chris!" Someone called out before he could reach the garage.

"Damn, I can't catch a break." He muttered under his breath. He turned around and saw Joseph in a truck with two other guys.

"Hey Chris, what's up man. Listen about this morning, I'm really sorry." Joseph said.

"I thought we were over with this apology thing." Chris said, anxious to get going.

"Oh I want to introduce you to some of my friends. That's Forest." He pointed to the guy with the long hair in a ponytail. "And that's Richard." He pointed to the other guy who was in the driver's seat.

"What's up." Chris said.

"So anyway, we were heading to the mall, wanna come?" Joseph asked.

Chris looked at Joseph and to the other two guys while thinking of what to do. "You know, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. I still don't know my way around so it might do me some good. But uh, is it okay if I follow behind you? I need to be home by 6:30."

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine." Joseph said. "Okay, we'll wait."

Chris nodded and walked straight into the garage. After leaving New York, he didn't think he would see it so soon, his black, white and red Suzuki GXSR 1000. Chris couldn't wipe the smile off of his face when he saw it. It was exactly how he left it when he handed it over to the shipping company. It was a good thing too; otherwise words and fists would be flying about. Chris started up his bike, loving the purring sound it made before putting on his matching helmet and gloves. After making sure his bike was warmed up and ready to go, he met the guys on the street.

"Shit man, that's yours?" Joseph asked, his head sticking out of the passenger window.

"What was that?" Chris asked as he lifted the chrome-tinted visor.

"I said you have a really bad ass bike. Not many of those here." Joseph said.

"Oh, thanks." He said as he closed his visor and revved his engine, signaling that he was ready to go.

"Alright let's roll." Joseph said. Richard then put his truck into gear and proceeded to the mall, with Chris following behind.

**----**

"So Chris," Forest said as they stalked the halls of the mall. "Where do you go to school? I haven't seen you at Raccoon High."

"Uh, I go to North Spencer Prep." He replied while he looked around the mall. He was pretty amazed to find a decent sized mall in the middle of this sleepy town.

"A prep huh?" Forest said as he elbowed Joseph in the gut. Joseph held in his yelp of pain. He knew exactly what that was for, for introducing them to a preppy, their worst enemy.

"Dave's gonna kick ass if he found out." Richard said as they continued down the aisle.

"So you need permission from this Dave guy in order to hang out with someone out of your circle? Are you not capable of choosing for yourself?" Chris said as he focused his attention to the stores and the people in the mall.

Richard and Forest became upset with that remark. At that very moment they were ready to cut and run. "Hey, hey." Joseph tried to change the subject. "Hey, Chris, what happened to your head? That wasn't from this morning was it?"

"No. I guess you can say I pissed off some guys at school and they tried to jump me after." Chris said as if he were not a big deal.

"No way, how many?" Joseph asked.

"Hmm, seven." He continued to focus his attention on his surroundings, still deciding whether or not he liked the place.

"And you got away with just that cut above your eye?" Richard asked, the growing animosity he felt suddenly melted away, replaced by curiosity.

"Actually this was a cheap shot." Chris pointed to his head. "There was no way in hell I could've taken all seven of them, so when they were distracted, I threw in a couple of punches and kicks and ran the hell out of there. They were pretty pissed off too." He finished as they turned the corner.

"Shit, I wouldn't have thought of that. I would've probably tried to take them all on." Forest said. He too was curious of that situation.

"Nice, anyway, there are a couple of comics I need to get, so let's go there." Joseph said as he pointed to the comic book store.

"Okay, well I'm gonna check out the music store. I need some new tunes." Richard said.

"Why don't you just download the music?" Forest asked.

"Unlike you, I like to show support to my favorite bands by buying legit CDs." Richard said.

"Okay, whatever." Forest said as he followed Joseph.

"Um, I think I'm just gonna hang out here and take in the sights." Chris said.

"Suit yourself." Richard said as he entered the music store. Chris continued to explore the same section of the mall until he ran into a small obstacle.

"What the fu…" He cursed as someone bumped into him, causing the contents of the cup the person was holding to spill all over his shirt and jacket. Chris was pissed off and began shaking the excess liquid off his jacket. He was about to the blast this person but when he looked down at the girl who bumped into him, his expression lightened.

"I'm so sorry." The girl who bumped into him apologized. "I wasn't looking where I was going." She had a soft, yet commanding voice, which Chris found particularly intriguing.

"It's okay, don't worry about it." He smiled as he watched her apologize time and time again.

"Here, let me help." She said as she began wiping his jacket with some napkins. "I'm really sorry. I'm not really this clumsy, it's just…" She said.

"I said it's alright." Chris said, feeling slightly embarrassed at the spectacle they were causing.

"At least let me pay for your drying cleaning bill." She offered. By this time, Chris had enough of her apologizing. He lightly grabbed her hand from his jacket, which caused her to look up at him; her light blue eyes held an apologetic look.

"Listen Miss, its okay. Really it is." He said. "And seriously, what would your boyfriend say if he saw you right now?"

"My boyfriend?" She asked, somewhat snapping her back to reality.

"Hey what's going on?" Joseph said as they approached them with new comics at hand.

As Chris redirected his gaze to Joseph and the guys, he also noticed a couple of guys a few feet away, pointing directly at him.

"Oh fuck." Chris suddenly cursed, surprising the girl and the guys as well.

"What?" Joseph asked as he, Forest and Richard turned to face the direction Chris was staring.

"Damn those preps!" Forest said as Alfred, Hunk, Jack and Nicholai headed towards them.

Chris saw as they headed towards them. "Um…" Chris bit his lip as he looked at the girl in front of him, then at the guys who were advancing towards him. "Okay, it's alright, forget about it. I gotta go." He said, and quickly ran before she could get a word out.

"Wait!" Joseph and the guys ran after him, while Alfred and the others broke out into a run to catch them. "Chris, we can take them! It's even, four on four!" The girl heard Joseph yell as they got further away from where she was standing.

The girl stood there, confused of what just happened. She then looked down and saw a puddle of her root beer soda. She was about call someone to have it cleaned up when someone caught her attention.

"Jill! Oh my god, there you are!" One of her girlfriends called.

"We've been looking all over for you." Her other friend who wore glasses said.

"I was here all…" She began but was cut off.

"Never mind that! I just saw Jack and those guys running after some guys. 50 bucks say there's going to be a fight in the parking lot! I already saw some people heading there. Come on!" Her friend said as she grabbed her and began to run.

"Alyssa, wait! I have to…" Jill said as she was dragged against her will.

"Forget it Jill, the cleaners will get to it!"

"But Ingrid…" Jill protested.

"Oh come on, it'll be interesting! Besides I've never seen a real fight before. I _don't _want to miss it." Ingrid squealed.

Jill had no choice but to run with them as each of them held one of her arms. She noticed they were running in the same direction the guys ran. She thought by now that the fight would be broken up and they would be taken into custody by the mall security, but she was surprised to see them still running down the hall.

"Look, they're still there! We might be able to make it!" Alyssa said.

**----**

"Where the hell is the exit?! I don't know where the fuck I'm going!" Chris yelled as he ran.

"There, turn there!" Richard said. Chris took the turn and continued down that path.

"Dude, we should just fight them! Right here, right now!" Joseph said as the security guard yelled for all of them to stop running.

"I can't afford that right now!" Forest said as he turned to check how far away they were.

"Same here!" Richard said as he reached in his pocket for his keys.

"Fine!" Joseph yelled.

"That's the exit over there!" Forest yelled as he pointed to the door.

"Shit!" Chris yelled as he saw the automatic doors closing. He tried to slip through it without getting caught, but to no avail. He banged his shoulder into it and at the speed he was going at, caused the door to come off of its hinges and fall to the ground. The glass shattered in a million pieces, but Chris and the others continued forward, Alfred and his crew hot on their tails.

"Fuck! Holy shit! Oh my god!" Joseph yelled as they ran towards their vehicles. Richard quickly opened his door and started his car as Forest and Joseph jumped in the bed of the truck. There was no time for Richard to unlock both of their doors if they were to make a quick get away. Chris jumped on his bike and quickly started it, popping it into gear and speeding off. "Your helmet and gloves are in the truck yo!" Joseph yelled to Chris as they drove away.

"Just hold on to it!" Chris yelled. He then turned to Alfred, Hunk, Jack and Nicholai and flicked them off.

"Damn you Chris! We're gonna get you! Son of a bitch!" Jack yelled. Chris smirked then looked toward the road. He then popped a wheelie, and sped out of there with Richard tailing from behind in his truck.

"Shit, security, lets get out of here. I don't want to get deported." Nicholai said.

"My car is on the other side, let's go!" Jack said and all of them ran towards the west end of the mall.

"Damn, no fight." Ingrid said as they watched everyone run or drive off.

"Yeah, I guess. But you have to admit, the guy on the bike is hot." Alyssa said as she kept her gaze on the road, hoping Chris would return and pick her up. Jill didn't say a word and like Alyssa, kept her eyes trained on the road where Chris disappeared on the horizon. "God, I _need _to know who he is!" She said, gritting her teeth from all the excitement.

"I think his name was Chris or something. At least that's what I heard one of his friends say." Jill said.

"How do you know?" Alyssa turned to Jill.

"Well, I sort of bumped into him and spilled my root beer on him." Jill confessed.

"You did what?" She asked.

"Chill out, Lys. Its not like she kissed him or anything." Ingrid said, causing Jill to blush.

"Oh my god." It suddenly hit her. "You said you think his name is Chris?" Alyssa asked.

"Yeah." Jill responded.

"I think it's the new guy!" She said excitedly. "Did he have short spiky hair, with deep blue eyes, well toned arms and a smile that could melt your heart?"

"Um…" Jill paused as she looked at Ingrid out of confusion. "Well, he did have short spiky hair and dark blue eyes." She said.

"That's him, I know it is!" She sighed.

"I wonder what David is going to say about your obsession with this new guy." Ingrid said.

"Why would he say anything?" Alyssa asked.

"Well, aren't you two dating?" Jill reminded her.

"No, we broke up yesterday." Alyssa said.

"A little quick to move on, aren't we?" Jill said before Ingrid could get the words out of her mouth.

"I need to mend my broken heart." She said.

"By hooking up with someone this soon?" Jill said while Alyssa stared daggers at her.

"Jill, by the way," She wanted to change the subject. "How is Scott, your college slash model _boyfriend_?" Jill could sense that Alyssa was a little jealous or perhaps angry that she raised a lot of questions regarding this matter.

"Fine." Jill answered, deciding it would be best to drop everything.

"I hate to break you two up, but I need to get home soon." Ingrid said.

"Oh sorry, yeah we should go. I need to work on my article for the school paper." Alyssa said. As they walked towards her car, she took one quick glance where Chris rode off and smiled. "_I'm going to make him mine!_"

**Tada! Would have gotten this out sooner, but I'm in the process of moving and unpacking…though I don't think I'm going to since I have to move again in August. Anyhoo, its weird cause I just noticed how all the baddies have different shades of blonde hair…even Jill has blonde hair when she was a baddie! Maybe Capcom likes to associate blondes with villains…I don't know, hahaha… As for The Brilliant Dance, it's currently on hiatus…my brain is malfunctioning that's why…took me forever to write this piece, yikes! Ahaha… its just the first chapter but let me know what you think. Seriously, you have to. If nobody does, then I'll assume you don't want me to continue and then I won't write. So yeah, thanks ^__^**


	2. A Whisper & A Clamor

**wWhew, well thanks to everyone who reviewed! Finding time is so hard. Anyhoo, I really would like to apologize to some of you. Why? Well, for some, I read and reviewed your stories, but when an update pops up, I don't read it…its not that I don't want to. I just don't have time, or I'm really tired. But don't worry, once I feel settled in (I moved) I'll definitely give it a read. Sorry! Hehehe…Okay, so since I wrote this, I have time right? Yeah, in a sense...but think of it this way…if I read, then I wont write and then I wont update…so let me write or type ^__^**

**Hmm, anyhoo, something from the last chapter…Jack is Jack Krauser and Ingrid is well, Ingrid Hunnigan, if you didn't already know…I also read somewhere that Chris was originally from NY, so don't get mad or whatever. Oh yeah, Jill's boy toy named Mark…well, I changed it to Scott…I changed it rather early so if you didn't catch it, then it's okay…but he's not important so whatever, let's get this show on the roll! And, I decided to leave the title as is. I'm too lazy to think of one that makes sense, ahhaa…**

**Chapter 2: **A Whisper & A Clamor

Chris's adrenaline was pumping as he sped down the main road with Richard following behind. The events of the whole day were catching up with him and he definitely felt it in his head. Going at high speeds without a helmet wasn't helping at all either. He felt the sting of the wind in his eyes as he traveled against it; his tears being forced out of his eyes against his will. If he needed to slow down, now would be a perfect time. He checked his rearview mirror to see Richard right behind him. He blinked his breaks and downshifted, causing his engine to let out a loud, mean roar. Richard followed suit and slowed down. They continued at the normal speed limit until they finally reached Chris's house. He rode into his driveway and parked his bike in the garage before meeting the guys on the street.

"Holy hot damn!" Joseph said as he jumped out of the bed of the truck. He was extremely hyper and excited of what just happened that he couldn't keep still. "Dude, I can't believe you shattered the door into a million pieces, Chris!" He said while pointing to the direction where they came from.

"Tell me about it!" Forest said as he tried to tame his hair. He was a bit calmer than Joseph.

"That was pretty crazy! I think that was one of the craziest stunts I've ever been involved with." Richard said as he took a seat on the curb. The others soon followed suit.

"You're not bad for a preppy, Chris." Forest said as he handed Chris his helmet and gloves.

"Thanks." Chris said unenthusiastically. As if he needed confirmation anyway. He glanced at his watch and sighed. He was home early, surprisingly. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. "Damn it." He cursed to himself when he found it was drenched in the mall girl's root beer. He crumpled it and threw it in the storm drain. With nothing left to do, he leaned back, propping himself on his hands behind him and glanced at the sky, watching the shape shifting clouds roll by.

"You smoke?" Joseph asked, and received a glance from Chris that practically told him the answer. "Stupid question, of course you do…but I'm curious, don't you need to be over 18 to buy it?"

Chris didn't respond. Instead, he reached for his wallet in his jacket pocket and gave Joseph an I.D. He took the I.D. and examined it closely with Richard and Forest hovering behind him. "Erm, it says you're 21." Joseph said as he handed it back to Chris.

"Yup. It's very useful to get into clubs in the Empire State." Chris said as he put it back in a hidden compartment in his wallet. "I use it mainly for my habit though."

"How old are you anyways?" Richard asked. Chris did look like he could be 21, but he also has some obvious facial traits that said he was still a teenager. It didn't help that sometimes his attitude betrayed his looks as well.

"Probably the same age as you are." Chris responded as he took out his Zippo lighter and played with it.

"CHRIS, DINNER!" Claire yelled obnoxiously loud from the doorway.

Chris sighed and put his lighter back in his pocket. "That's my cue." He got up from the curb and dusted himself off.

"Alright, see you Chris." Joseph stuck out his fist, which Chris knocked his fist against.

"Later man." Forest did the same thing as well as Richard.

"We'll probably check you out tomorrow." Joseph said as he followed Richard and Forest to the truck. "What's your number?" He said as he took out his phone. Chris took out his phone as well. Once Chris gave his number, Joseph called his phone so that he would have his contact as well. "Alright, call you tomorrow." Joseph said as he got into the truck.

"Yeah, okay." Chris said. Richard then drove off as Chris walked into his house.

"Jeez, took you long enough to exchange numbers with your new _boyfriend._" Claire said as Chris met her at the doorway.

"You want to be hanged don't you?" Chris placed his large hand on top of Claire's head as they walked into the house together.

"HEY!" Claire yelled as she struggled against the weight of his arm.

"Would you two hurry?" Their father called from the kitchen.

"Coming!" Claire wiggled from under Chris's grasp and ran into the kitchen where she took her seat at one side of the table.

"Wash up Chris." His father said. Chris glanced at his father then went to the sink to wash his hands. He then took his seat opposite Claire. Once everyone was seated, they said _Grace_ and began to eat.

"So how was everyone's day?" His father asked.

"Oh I had a blast!" Claire said excitedly, as if she were waiting for someone to finally ask the question. "I met this girl named Rebecca, she's nice…I like her. She's one year younger than me, but she's really, really smart, right mom?" Chris rolled his eyes when she called Abigail that. It was so easy for her to accept the change as she barely remembered their mother anyways. "She's in the high school classes!" Claire continued, "Though, I kinda feel bad for her."

"Why?" Her father asked.

"It seems like she has no friends. I mean, she can't be friends with the people in her class because she's too young to hang out with them and she can't really hang out with people her age, because they think she's weird cause she smart." Claire paused as she put a mouthful of food in her mouth. "But I like her." She said after she swallowed her food.

"So you befriended her out of pity?"

"Chris." Abigail said softly.

"It's just a question." He said as he took a bite of his chicken. "There's gotta be something in it for you right?"

"Chris!" His father said more sternly.

"What?" Chris asked, but nobody replied, thinking that was the end of it. "Oh I get it," Chris continued, "You're going to make her do your homework." He laughed.

"NO!" Claire yelled angrily, but secretly Chris hit it on the nail dead on. "If anything, she approached me first because I was new! She showed me around too." She stuck out her tongue to Chris.

"I thought a girl named Jill was assigned that." Abigail asked.

"Oh yeah, Jill did that earlier in the day. She's really nice too." Claire was quick to be happy again. "She has Rebecca in her Trigonometry class too! She's like really popular! Everywhere we went, she knew someone. I think she's the class president too." Claire said with uncertainty.

"Yes, she is." Abigail confirmed it for her.

"You should meet her Chris, she's really pretty. But maybe she won't like you because you're an idiot." Claire said.

"Shut up." Chris said as he gulped down some water.

"What about you son?" His father asked.

"Well," Chris paused, pretending to recall his day. "Some guy in rollerblades tackled me, I was hit on by a girl from Brentwood, I almost got jumped at school by seven guys. But I hit them with cheap shots and ran." He pointed to the cut above his head as proof and then continued on, "I went to the mall with the rollerblade dude and some of his friends, then a stupid girl spilled root beer on me. Then some of those punks from school saw me at the mall and decided to chase me so we made a run for it. I ran into the glass sliding door and it shattered when it fell off its hinges. I hopped on my bike and sped out of there and ended up here. Is that okay for you?" Chris said sarcastically.

"You're such a liar." Claire said.

"Okay." Chris said and got up from the table and went to his room without another word, leaving his father upset with his abruptness.

**----**

The next day, Chris got up and sighed. Like the day before, he took in his the sights of his room. Sure he still hated some stuff about it, but the funny thing was, he wasn't _trying_ so hard to hate it. '_Maybe…maybe its not so bad._' he thought. He stretched his arms out and let out a big yawn. It was another day at the stuck up school; if only the weekend would come sooner. '_Its Thursday, the weekend is almost here._' Chris thought as he got into the shower. It wasn't that he was afraid of Alfred and his crew, he just didn't feel like putting up with them each and every day until the last day of school. He decided he would make amends so that he can get through the school year without any crap.

After his daily morning routine, he switched from his messenger bag to a backpack and left for school on his bike. This time, he didn't run into Joseph on rollerblades or him at all and he was glad for it. Not that he was a bad guy or anything, he just didn't want to put up with him this early in the morning.

As usual, before entering the premises, he checked in with security and they handed him a parking pass for his bike. He rode in slowly so that he would not attract attention, but it wasn't like he wasn't going to get it anyway. Everyone in the parking lot, instructors included, watched as Chris parked his bike, the only bike there, and dismounted. He removed his helmet and ran his hand through his hair. Chris didn't bother to look around, but he knew everyone was staring; he could feel it. He couldn't give a damn. However, what he didn't catch was Alfred and his crew lurking just a few cars away.

Chris entered the main building and made it to his locker without running into one of the blonde boys. He cautiously opened his locker, thinking it was messed with. Relieved that nothing came out, he placed his riding gear in and took out the books he needed. Then he proceeded to his first class, not surprised to see Alfred in the seat he claimed as his own. Chris smirked and passed him, taking a seat far away from him.

**----**

It was finally lunchtime, and Chris was surprised that he made it through the day without anyone bothering him. Earlier, however, he did run into Wesker in the hall. Chris was ready for a volley of words, but Wesker just clapped him on the shoulder and continued on. They made brief eye contact as well, where Chris noticed a raw scar between his eye and nose. Chris wondered how he got that, and remembered that yesterday, his fist made contact with his face, probably breaking his sunglasses and scratching him in the process. Chris knew that greeting in the hall was a warning of some sort.

On his way out, he stopped by his locker to get his helmet. He decided he would go out for lunch since hanging out at this school made him sick. He stuffed everything else in his locker and went outside to the parking lot. As he neared his bike, he saw a couple of people hovering around it. '_Probably just looking._' Chris thought. He then noticed somebody sit on it. He was getting rather irritated now. It was the same concept as opening someone's car and sitting inside! Chris was a few feet away when the person sitting on his bike called him.

"Wesker." Chris said through gritted teeth while gripping his helmet tightly. He should've known sooner that it would be these idiots surrounding his bike, looking for trouble. "I don't want trouble." Chris said as calmly as he could. He could practically feel his blood boiling as the others twisted the mirrors out of place.

"It's too late for that Chris." Wesker said as he got off the bike. "This is a very nice ride you got here." He taunted as he glided his fingers gently on the surface of the bike. "Looks expensive too." He let out a brief whistle. "It would be a shame if it suddenly," He paused for dramatic effect, "…fell over." Wesker's boys took this as a cue to step back from the bike.

"You wouldn't dare." Chris raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, I would." Wesker kicked the bike over and Chris watched as it fell with a hard thud. "Oops, how clumsy of me." He smirked.

Chris was beyond control now. If they messed with him, that was fine, but to do that to his bike, it was totally uncalled for. "You son of bitch." Chris cursed. He didn't care if he was outnumbered three to one. He was pissed off and wanted to get his hands on Wesker. As he ran towards him, Hunk and Jack ran to meet him. He quickly disposed of Hunk by whacking his head with his helmet. By this time, a crowed began to grow around them but none of them seemed to notice. Chris headed for Jack but he was able to dodge the blow to his head, giving Jack an opportunity to land a punch to Chris's gut. Chris retaliated with a left hook to his face. Jack threw another punch and instead of dodging it, Chris brought his helmet with force to meet Jack's fist. Jack cradled his arm after it made contact with the helmet. Chris then whacked him with his helmet, putting him to the ground. It was only him and Wesker left. Chris dropped his helmet and charged at Wesker. With the bike lying between the two of them, Chris dove head first over his bike and tackled Wesker, much to his surprise. With Wesker down and stunned by the impact, Chris started throwing punches to Wesker's face and anywhere else he could hit. Between the punches that Chris was constantly throwing, Wesker with his palm exposed, was able to hit Chris from under his chin, dazing him momentarily. Wesker took the opportunity to take the upper hand. The both of them began rolling on the ground, each throwing punches when they could. The cuts on both of their faces reopened with blood gushing out. Chris finally took the upper hand, pinning Wesker to the ground once again. He was about to start pounding on him when all of a sudden someone with a hockey stick whacked him on the chest, causing him to fall back and onto his fallen bike.

"How do you like me now bitch?" Alfred said, holding the broken hockey stick as if he were a tough guy.

Wesker nodded at Alfred and got up, wiping the blood trickling from his nose. "Pick him up." He told the two staggering boys who got to their feet while Alfred, James, William and Nicholai watched.

"Why you guys not wait for me?" Nicholai asked.

"Because my Russian friend, we don't want you getting deported anytime soon." Wesker said. Nicholai just huffed and backed away. Jack and Hunk picked up the dazed Chris and stood him on his knees by holding each arm. His head dangled as he struggled to regain consciousness.

"You chose the wrong people to mess with Redfield." Wesker said as he held his hand out, beckoning Alfred to hand him the broken stick. The crowd around them began to murmur, curious of what Wesker planned to do next.

"If…if I'm correct," Chris managed to say. "Your little bitch over there started it..." He began to struggle in the grasps of Hunk and Krauser. "…and you, you just brought yourself in like a goddamn groupie." Chris spat what blood he had in his mouth to Wesker and smirked. Wesker grew angrier and began grinding his teeth.

"Just do it, Wes." Hunk said, an obvious bump forming on his forehead.

With his right hand grasping tightly on the broken hockey stick, Wesker cocked his hand back, ready to strike Chris. However, before he brought the stick to meet Chris, someone from behind grabbed him and held him back.

"ENOUGH!" The instructor who grabbed Wesker yelled as three others restrained Hunk, Krauser and Chris.

"Albert Wesker, what the hell has gotten into you?"

"Mr. Atkins, it was his fault!" Alfred yelled from the sideline.

"What the fu…my fault? That's bullshit. You're bullshit, you little faggot!" Chris yelled.

"That's enough. When we want your side of the story, we'll ask." The instructor restraining Chris said.

"Man, this place is full of shit." Chris said as the four of them were escorted to the office. "You should take the fruitcake in too. He cracked the damn hockey stick on me." Chris added.

"Is that so? Mr. Ashford if you will." Another instructor said.

"Damn you!" Alfred said as he followed.

**----**

The five of them waited in the office for their parents to arrive before they received their punishment. Hunk, Jack, Wesker and Chris all had ice packs on their injuries while Alfred sat in the corner, repeatedly saying that his father was going to kill him. Each of them had already explained their side of the story, now they were just waiting for the verdict. All of them seemed a little worried, but Chris didn't care. He was pretty much used to the regular routine: His father getting mad at him, they stop talking for a month or so and then everything goes back to normal. He could definitely live with that.

Wesker's father was the first to arrive, sporting the same slicked back blonde hair as his son's. Wesker was about to say something, but was immediately silenced. "I don't want to hear a word out of you. I was called out of an important meeting for this." He said through gritted teeth as he glared at Chris and the others. He then walked straight into the Head Master's office. As they waited outside, they struggled to hear what was going on inside, but to no avail. Minutes later, Wesker's father emerged and without another word, grabbed his son and walked out. Everyone was slightly confused but shrugged it off. It wasn't too long until Chris's father and Abigail walked through the doors.

"What the hell has gotten into you?" Chris's father asked.

"Nick, save this for later." Abigail said as she grabbed his arm.

"Mr. and Mrs. Redfield, if you please?" The secretary said.

"I'm not, we're not… never mind." Abigail said as they entered the Head Master's office. Chris's parents took longer than Wesker's father and when they emerged, Chris's dad looked more pissed off than Wesker's dad. Abigail held a composed look, neither happy nor mad.

"Come on Chris." She said softly.

"What happened?" Chris said as he held the now bloody ice pack firmly on his head.

"We'll talk about it at home, okay. Let's just go." She said, still retaining her calm composure.

"No come on, seriously, what happened?" Chris was eager to know.

Abigail was about to tell him to wait, but Chris's father was extremely angry, and yelled at him.

"You were kick out okay! Are you happy?" He was extremely angry.

Chris just smiled when he heard that. "Am I happy? Hell, I'm excited! I couldn't stand this place anyway. Any longer here and I'd probably have to resign myself!" He laughed.

Abigail sighed. She was disappointed that Nick had said that. For one thing, she knew Chris would react this way. Maybe he was happy to be out of the school, but she knew for sure it was his defense mechanism. She knew his attitude all to well. Instead of showing that he felt bad for his failure, he would go around it and change his attitude so it would seem like he was unaffected and didn't care at all. She knew deep down he cared, but was unwilling to talk about it.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Chris's father yelled.

Chris let out an exasperated sigh. "This place is a joke. I'm willing to bet that trust fund bastard's dad paid that old fart in there to expel me. It's so obvious that everyone is paid off. You think those dumb shits over there can pass their classes without their parent's money? Psh…" He said, referring to the remaining guys sitting down.

"That's enough, lets go." Chris's father had to yank him out of there. Before leaving the premises, they stopped by Chris's locker to collect his belongings. After, they proceeded to the parking lot without saying a word to each other. "Get in the car." His father ordered.

"But my bike." Chris said as he looked at the bike lying pathetically on the ground with his helmet a few feet away.

"Your father will get it. Just get in the car. You shouldn't be riding right now anyways." Abigail said. By now, her current attitude began to irritate Chris. He knew she was mad, and yet she talked to him like he was a three year old who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Chris never understood her, maybe because he never really took the time to talk to her and get to know her. For as long as she has been with their family, he hasn't really spoken to her. The only things he knew about her were the obvious: name, age, and physical features. He didn't even know what her favorite color was.

"You know, I never wanted you to go to that school anyways." She cut off his train of thought. "Your father and I got into a huge argument about it." She said as she drove off the campus. Chris looked back to make sure his father was following behind. "He was hoping that you would change your attitude there. I told him that everything would backfire, but he wouldn't listen. And now look what happened."

"Are you telling me this so I could feel bad?" Chris asked.

"Of course not. I just don't want you to think that this situation was all your fault." She said.

"Well, its not. Those bastards didn't want to leave me alone." Chris said.

"I know they're at fault too, but if you weren't enrolled there in the first place, this probably wouldn't happen."

"How would you know this wouldn't happen at another school?"

"I know I'm a principal at an all girl's school, but I know how boys think too. I may have a PhD in Psychology too, but it doesn't take a doctorates to know that someone like you won't mesh well with rich snobby boys."

"_Someone like me_." Chris smirked sarcastically.

"I'm not targeting your attitude per se, but also your upbringing. You weren't brought up in an environment like theirs, so of course you won't see eye to eye. Anyone in your situation would definitely see that, but I don't think all of them would take your approach."

"Maybe." Chris said as he crossed his arms across his chest, the pains suddenly getting to him.

"I know you're a good kid Chris. You just have a hard time expressing yourself. I know you're just protecting yourself, but sometimes you just need to let yourself go otherwise people won't know the real you."

"What's there to know? This is me in a nutshell." Chris turned to her direction.

"You'll begin to understand soon enough." She looked toward him and smiled. "God, you look like crap." She giggled to lighten the moment. "We should take you to the hospital." She said as she changed her direction towards the hospital, while Chris father took a different way.

"Where's my dad going?" He asked.

"He's going to get you enrolled at Raccoon City High. His good friend Barry Burton is the principal there."

Chris heaved a heavy sigh. He was not enthusiastic about going back to school.

**----**

Chris woke up the following day with bad chest pains, but he was otherwise okay. He was glad that he didn't end up with a black eye despite the many headshots he received. Though, he couldn't say the same for Wesker. He smiled at the thought of his black and blue eye. Still in his pajamas, Chris went downstairs, hoping he wouldn't have to go to the new school today.

"Why aren't you dressed?" His father asked.

"I have to go to school today?" Chris asked.

"Other than the cut on your head and those bruises, Dr. Hamilton said you were okay." He said.

"Fine." Chris said and marched back upstairs. He took a quick shower and got dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and tennis shoes. He was glad he didn't have to wear a stupid uniform. He then grabbed his bag, helmet and jacket and proceeded downstairs. "Where are my keys?" He asked.

"I have them." His father said as he consumed his breakfast.

"Well, can I have them?" Chris asked.

"No." He said firmly. The whole time, Nick Redfield refused to look at his son during the conversation. Abigail and Claire watched silently as the two of them talked.

"I have to walk to school?!" Chris asked.

"Yeah, that's part of your punishment."

Chris sighed in defeat. "That's bullshit." He said and walked away without any breakfast. He didn't feel like seeing his dad any longer. On his way out, he placed his helmet on the table near the door and walked out. He put on his jacket and shouldered his bag and went on his way, happy he didn't run into Joseph again.

"Chris!"

'_Damn, spoke to soon_.' He thought as he heard Joseph call his name.

"Hey what's up? I tried calling yesterday." Joseph said.

"Oh, my battery died." Chris lied.

"Anyway, I heard there was a big fight at Spencer yesterday and I just wanted to ask you about it." Joseph said. "By the way, is it casual Friday or something?" He noted the casual clothes Chris was wearing.

"Um, no. I got expelled. That was me in that fight yesterday." Chris said as they continued walking.

"No shit?!" Joseph was surprised. "What happened…if you don't mind me asking."

"It's alright. Wesker and his boys pissed me off."

"Wesker? Damn, that guy is an asshole." Joseph said. "Was it because of that one day?" He asked.

"Yeah, it started from there. But yesterday, he purposely kicked my bike over after I told him I didn't want any trouble." Chris said.

"No way! How bad was the damage?"

"Not sure, I haven't seen my bike yet. It's part of my punishment."

"So then what happened next?" Joseph was eager to know.

"Well, I wasn't thinking properly anymore. I was pissed off."

"I bet." Joseph said.

"So I went at it. I knocked out Hunk and Jack with my helmet and then went at it with Wesker. Then I got a cheap shot blow from Alfred with a hockey stick. After that, the officials broke up the fight."

"Did you mess them up?" Joseph asked.

"I managed to do some damage if that's what you're asking."

"Nice." Joseph said. "So where are you going now?"

"Same place you are." Chris said.

"No shit? Cool man. You'll like it there, better than Spencer that's for sure." Joseph said as he clapped Chris on his shoulder causing him to wince in pain. "Oh shit, I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Chris said as they turned the corner, nearing Brentwood Academy.

"So…" Joseph began but was cut of by some Brentwood girl yelling Chris's name.

"So we meet again. Stalking the area are we?" She got up from the fence and met them. Ever since that day at the mall, she has been waiting outside, hoping Chris would pass by.

"Erm…" Chris struggled to remember her name.

"Alyssa." She said.

"Yeah, right, sorry. Alyssa, no I'm just passing." He smiled.

"Oh, what happened to your head?" She noticed the cut above his head.

"Um…"

"He got into a fight with Wesker." Joseph said.

"Oh my god, that was you?" She asked.

"You know about that?" Chris asked.

"Who doesn't? That's the gossip going around the schools right now." Alyssa said casually. "Anyway, I have to go now. I hope to see you around more often."

"Okay." Chris said.

"Bye Chris. Oh and Joe, tell David to stop calling me." She said and sauntered into campus.

"What was that about?" Chris asked as they continued on their way.

"I forgot to tell you, Alyssa and David King are sort of, well…they broke up." Joseph said.

"So why the hell were you telling me that crap that one day?" Chris asked.

"I was just teasing. Anyway, you better stay clear of her. The last thing you want is David getting on your case."

"I guess." Chris said.

**----**

Chris and Joseph finally made it to school just as the first bell rang. Upon entering the building, the hall immediately began to fill up with students hustling to get to their first class. "Come on, this way." Joseph led the way while Chris struggled to keep up. People kept bumping into him, causing his chest to scream with pain. He scrunched his face every time someone made contact with him. After maneuvering between the crowds, the two of them finally made it to the office. "Here you are dude, well, I'll catch you later." Joseph said and left.

Chris checked in and just as he received his schedule another bell rang. "You better get moving kid. You don't want to be late." Mr. Burton, the principal said.

"Um, yeah. Thanks." Chris said.

"Just remember, I've got my eye on you Mister Redfield." Mr. Burton said. Chris nodded at him and left the office to find his first class. By the time he found his class, the tardy bell had already rang and everyone was settled in their seats. Chris walked in, feeling a little uncomfortable with the silence, but tried not to show it. He held his head high as he proceeded in and gave the teacher his schedule. As he stood there, waiting for the teacher to add his name to the roster, he noticed some of the students whispering. He was hoping it wasn't about him but when he heard the words Spencer and expelled, he knew for sure they were whispering about him. '_So much for starting off low key._' He thought.

"Everyone, we have a new student today. His name is Christopher. Go ahead and find yourself a seat, Christopher." Mr. Sullivan said.

"Its just Chris." He said.

"Okay Chris. Oh and welcome to Speech class."

"Thanks." He said sarcastically. As he looked around for an empty chair, he saw a girl in the back end of the classroom run to the desk next to her, remove a jacket that was draped around it and toss it to the owner who sat behind the desk.

"Thank you Kate." Mr. Sullivan said. As Chris proceeded down the aisle to the seat that was made available for him, Kate purposely dropped her book before Chris passed.

Chris thought it was a pretty pathetic gesture but he decided to play along. "Allow me." He smiled, bent down and picked up her book and placed it on her table. The gesture earned him a giddy schoolgirl laugh and heavy sighs by all the other girls ogling at him. Chris retained his smile, shook his head a little and took his seat. Most of the guys in the room were not impressed, especially the guys who sat in the front corner of the room, next to the entrance.

"So before we get into formal speech giving, I would like everyone to come up here and say something, anything, just to get a feel for standing in front of crowds." Mr. Sullivan said. "Do we have any volunteers?" Nobody raised their hands and looked elsewhere, hoping that Mr. Sullivan wouldn't make eye contact with anyone. "No? Okay…Let's do this alphabetically, starting with you, Mr. Aiken."

"Fine." Richard said and walked up to the front. "Hey everyone, I'm Richard. Everyone just calls me Rich. I want to be a communications expert for the S.T.A.R.S. team when I get older. Uh, yeah, thanks." Richard said and returned to his seat. Chris remembered Richard from the mall and was glad he already knew someone in his class.

"Erm, okay, thank you Rich. Maybe we should start with volunteers. Anyone?" Mr. Sullivan asked as the class giggled.

**----**

The school day had finally ended and Chris was glad for it because he didn't think he could endure any longer with girls constantly ogling at him and the bad stares he received in return by their boyfriends. He was also getting tired of hearing the rumors about him. Some went as far to say that he beat up the entire student body at Spencer. It was ridiculous! With an exhausted sigh, he made his way to his locker where Joseph eventually caught up to him.

"Hey, we're heading to Emmy's Diner, you should come."

"I'm really tired man and these pain meds aren't helping." Chris said as he took out his book for Astronomy class.

"I know you're a bit drugged, but it'll be fun. Come on, I'll introduce you to some of the boys. It'll be cool…my treat since I tackled you on Wednesday, please? Come on, I said _please._" Joseph said, hoping that Chris would agree to it.

"Fine. I guess it wouldn't hurt." Chris said as he put his books in his bag.

**--Emmy's Diner--**

"This way." Joseph led Chris to a booth in the corner where some of the guys, none that he recognized from school, save for Richard and Forest, were already sitting and munching on French fries.

"Hey guys." Joseph got their attention, "This is Chris. He just moved here. He's cool. Chris, that's Bruce and Leon." Joseph introduced.

"Ah, the preppy from Spencer. Its good to meet you…I heard a lot about you. Pull up a chair man." Bruce said with a heavy southern accent.

"Thanks." He said as he sat down.

"Chris, don't take this the wrong way or anything, but you're my hero." Leon said. "I mean, you took on Wesker and his boys! That's wow. Seriously!"

"Leon's a sophomore, so you'll have to forgive his immatureness." Richard said.

"Shut up Rich!" Leon threw him a crumpled napkin.

"Oh no, here comes some of the girls from Brentwood." Forest interrupted.

"And they're still in uniform, oooh." Joseph made a fist and covered his mouth.

"My favorite time of the day." Bruce said. Chris just sat back and smiled as he watched five girls walk in and take their seats at a booth on the other side of the diner. They each wore a dark blue plaid pleated skirt that fell above the knees with a matching V-neck cardigan over a long sleeve button down shirt complete with a matching tie. Upon noticing Alyssa, Chris quickly turned away, hoping she didn't notice him. Once she took a seat and continued chatting with her girl friends, Chris relaxed, knowing that she didn't notice him.

"Has anyone seen David lately?" Forest asked. "We have a game against the Preps soon and he hasn't said anything."

"He's screwed up right now." Richard said, pointing in Alyssa's direction.

"Hey Jill is with them, how come I didn't see her come in?" Joseph asked as he glanced toward their booth.

'_Jill?_' Chris thought as he took a peek at the other side, trying to figure out which one she was. "Who's Jill?" Chris decided to ask.

"Oh…Jill is the one sitting across Alyssa." Forest said, discreetly pointing to the girl with a fair complexion and dark chocolate hair that reached a little past her shoulders. Chris was only able to see her profile and wished to get a better view but her gaze was fixed on the paper in front of her.

"She is so sexy." Bruce said.

"Hey that's my future wife you're talking about!" Joseph joked.

"Well she is! And in a _very_ cute way too." Richard agreed.

"Yeah. How does she do that?" Forest asked.

"Well, she's cute, but she can be very sexy if she wanted to. And she doesn't have to try hard to be either or." Richard said. "But I don't know, it's kind of hard to explain."

"Oh definitely! I think you hit it right on the nail." Bruce said as he hi-fived Richard.

"Wonder what Bridgette would say if she heard you Rich?" Leon asked.

"She would agree with me!" Richard laughed. The more and more the guys talked about Jill, the more Chris became interested in her. Throughout their conversation, he constantly stole glances at their table, hoping to get a better look of this girl they so raved about.

**----**

"_Lys, you cannot publish this in the school paper! You're practically attacking some of the teachers!_" Chris managed to hear her voice for the first time since they got to the diner and at that moment, everything else drowned out save for the sound of her voice.

"_That's the point! It'll probably get them to move their asses! The curriculum in our school seems to be lacking, wouldn't you agree Ada?_" Alyssa asked.

"_Honey, you're asking the wrong person._" She said, smacking her lips together as she closed her compact. "_Ask _her." She pointed to Ingrid Hunnigan.

"_Of course. What was _I_ thinking?_" Alyssa said as Chris strained to hear what they were saying.

"Chris? Chris!" Joseph nudged him, snapping him out of his concentration.

"What?" He said rather loudly, practically getting the attention of everyone in the diner.

"Dude, I know you got bashed in the head a couple of times, but you don't need to yell." Joseph said as he rubbed his ear. The guys laughed as well as the girls sitting at the table across who happened to notice.

**----**

"Oh my god, he's so cute." Alyssa commented about Chris. She quickly changed the subject from curriculum to guys the moment Chris yelled.

"Now here's one subject I don't mind talking about." Ada said as she glanced at the guy's table. "Ew, never mind." She turned her attention back to the table.

"They're not all bad looking." Ashley said as she snuck a peek towards the guy's table.

"I know, its just, they're _grungy._" Ada said, earning a laugh from the girls.

"Chris is _not _grungy!" Alyssa defended. While the other girls laughed Jill casually stole a glance at Chris, observing his clothing, hairstyle and mannerisms. She smiled subconsciously at the sight of him smiling. As if timing couldn't have been better, Chris turned towards their table and accidentally caught Jill's gaze. Jill quickly looked away, embarrassed that she got caught. Chris, however kept his gaze trained on her, watching as she slowly looked up and continued chatting with the girls as if nothing occurred. He smirked at how casually she tried to pull it off, thinking it was rather cute. Once she stopped talking to listen to what Ingrid had to say, she slowly shifted her eyes towards him once again, thinking he wouldn't be looking but she was wrong. She met his gaze once again. This time, she couldn't tear away just yet. As she held her gaze, she noticed that his eyes shifted. Alyssa was looking over at him as well. Chris took a quick glance at Alyssa and returned to Jill. He smiled at her and quickly turned his attention to the boys, leaving Jill slightly embarrassed once again.

"Oh look who's here." Ingrid said, breaking the laughter among them.

Alyssa's head quickly bolted up, thinking it was David, but she was wrong. "Scott!" Jill jumped out of her seat and greeted him. She leaped into his awaiting grasp and kissed him. He was rather tall when compared to Jill's petite stature and had floppy dark blonde hair gelled neatly back and away from his model like face. Chris watched as Jill released him and casually ran her thumb over his lips, wiping of the remnants of her gloss. She giggled at him and he smiled in return. "Come." She said as she led him to a table of their own. As Chris watched, he couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy towards him. He was good looking and had a pretty girl on his arm to parade around.

"_What the hell, she's just one girl…but still…_" Chris thought as he turned his attention back to the boys. As soon as he did that, Joseph laughed so hard from a story Richard was telling and flailed his arms in the air, accidentally whacking Chris on the head with the glass he was holding.

"Oh shit!" he said while he continued to laugh. "I'm…I'm sorry." He struggled to get out while the others laughed even harder.

"You're an ass Joe!" Forest laughed.

"Hey Chris, kick his ass! We'll hold him for you." Bruce said

"Yeah, yeah." Leon laughed

"Shut up Leon." Joseph said. Chris looked to him and laughed at how scared he looked.

"He's scared." Richard said, causing the other to laugh even harder.

"Dude Chris, I'm really sorry." Joseph apologized once again. The guys couldn't contain themselves anymore and they were practically dying of laughter.

"It's alright." Chris chuckled.

"Hey Chris, you know you're bleeding, right?" Leon said. Chris touched his forehead and brought his fingers to his eye level to examine the blood.

"Maybe you should go to their table and ask them to kiss it and make it better!" Forest pointed to the girls from Brentwood. Their table got louder as the guys agreed and hi- fived each other.

"Fuck you." Chris chuckled. He wasn't laughing as hard as the others but he was otherwise having a good time. He enjoyed the company of the guys. They lightened his mood and took his thoughts away from his family, Wesker and Spencer but one thing that kept popping up in his mind was the girl seated at the opposite side along with her _perfect_ boyfriend. Out of curiosity he glanced at their booth and saw her get up and walk towards the counter.

"I'll be right back." Chris said as he took a napkin to his head. "Watch out." He told Joseph as he made his way out of his seat.

"You think he'll actually do it?" Leon asked.

"No." A majority of the boys said and quickly brought up another subject to talk about.

As soon as Chris left the booth, he crumpled the napkin and placed it in his pocket. He saw Jill waiting at the counter for something and he was kind of glad he had to pass the counter in order to go the restroom. Before he reached the counter, he was thinking of something he could do in order to talk to her, even for a bit but his mind didn't seem to produce anything. But just as fate wanted it to be, she quickly turned and almost bumped into him, but he caught her in arms length before the initial contact was made.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" She apologized and looked up, surprised to see Chris, once again. Chris wanted to reply but instead he just stood there, speechless and still holding onto her shoulders. Jill smiled, starting to feel awkward by the silence. "Um…" She said, trying to coax him into saying something.

"Oh." Chris quickly removed his hold on her, thinking she was beckoning him to do so. Chris stepped aside and proceeded towards the restroom. He took two steps when she called to him.

"I'm really sorry about your jacket." She said. She was aware she had a boyfriend, but there was just something about him that interested her. She wasn't about to leave her boyfriend for him, she just wanted to get to know him a little better, partly because everyone seems to be interested in him.

"Jacket?" Chris was confused as he said that.

"Miss, your Root Beer." The guy at the bar gave Jill her drink. Just then, Chris got a flashback at the mall when a girl bumped into him and spilled her Root Beer all over him.

"You were the Root Beer girl at the mall?" Chris asked; the face of the girl at the mall and Jill's suddenly became clear.

She smiled and nodded. "You didn't know that?" She asked. "I thought that's why you smiled at me earlier."

"Um, no. Yeah…no." Chris confused both himself and Jill. "Sorry, I'm a little screwed up right now." He pointed to his head and smirked. Jill thought it was pretty cute. She smiled at him once again. His behavior was extremely different from two days ago. '_Maybe he's on pain meds since he got into a fight the other day_.' She thought, trying to find an excuse for his awkwardness.

"Yeah, your um…your head is bleeding." Jill said as she gently touched the exact same spot on her head.

"Oh yeah." Chris said as he casually wiped the blood on his head and looked at it. "Okay." He nodded then took one glance at her and walked away, leaving Jill alone with her thoughts.

'_He's pretty strange._' Jill thought of him and walked back to her seat with her Root Beer at hand.

**Okay, so that's chapter 2. I know Jill isn't there until the end, just like the last chapter, but don't worry. I'm still establishing my grounds, so relax. If I don't get into it in the next chapter, then most definitely it'll be in the fourth. Alrighty, let me know what you think, I'm out!**


	3. Every Night's Another Story

**Sorry, inspiration and motivation seems harder to come by now a days…but anyway, thank you for all the reviews, alerts, favorites and whatnots. I'm keeping this short so yeah…**

**Chapter 3: **Every Night's Another Story

Jill stood barefooted in a room she believed was empty. She scanned the area, looking for some form of familiarity, but to no avail. It was pitch dark, save for the moonlight gleaming through the windows that created a path for her to follow. Taking slow graceful strides on the cold tiled floor, she made her way down the moonlighted staircase, careful not to make a sound just in case someone was waiting for her down below. Upon reaching the ground floor, she paused and looked around. Unlike the previous room she came from, it was fully furnished, except like the other room, it was dark. However, thanks to the moonlight cascading through a tall window, she was able to spot someone lying on a couch. Instantly, unwanted thoughts began racing through her mind and she slowly began to back away, ready to make a run for it. To where? She didn't care as long as she was out of harms way. Before she decided to cut and run, she took one more glance at the figure on the couch. There was something about this situation that called to her. Perhaps it was because the moonlight showered over the figure in a manner that beckoned her to it. She hesitated for a moment before she decided she was going to approach this guy…if he was indeed a guy. This person was her ticket into finding out what was going on in this freaky place and she needed answers.

Her palms were clammy and her throat was dry. She stopped and stood over the figure. Her presumption had been correct; it was a guy and by the looks of his bare back, he was shirtless. Jill hoped to God that he was wearing something underneath the blanket. She took a deep breath and cleared her throat as quietly as she could. "_Excuse me._" She whispered to guy sleeping. "_Hey…hey do you know where we are?_" She poked his bare shoulder, trying to wake him but all she received was a groan. At least he was alive, she thought. She had no idea who this guy was and couldn't even see his face. She didn't know whether he was a threat or not but something kept pressing her to wake him. "_Hey!_" She said again, this time shaking him a little harder. "_Are you awake?_" She asked, but received no reply. "_Forget it, I'll find my way out._" She said to herself. Just as she turned to leave, the guy grabbed her without warning and pulled her down to the couch, pinning her beneath him. Her heart began racing and she felt certain he could feel it through her chest. She tried to struggle free from his grasp but her slim figure was trapped between his knees and her arms pressed against his bare chest. "_What are you..._"

"_There's no use fighting it Jill._" He cut her off, his voice sounding very hoarse.

"_Don't think I won't scream._" She managed to say while she continued to struggle against his weight.

"_No one to hear you scream, sweetheart._" She couldn't see him smiling, but she could very well feel it. She grew even more nervous, not knowing what his intentions were. "_Just give in to your temptations._" He said, then slowly bent all the way down, cradled her face in his hands, and kissed her.

His mouth was hard and brazen, wet and arrogant as it slashed across hers, asking for nothing yet demanding everything. Dazed and seething, she found herself giving in. She responded to his kiss as she pressed her mouth into his, harder, deeper and wrapped her arms around his neck, hanging on tight. Jill has never been kissed like this, with such intensity, such single-minded desperation. It was as if his life depended on branding her with his mouth. She couldn't breath, couldn't think but some how, it didn't matter to her. All she wanted was more of him. When he finally had to break away to breathe, leaving her supine in the depths of the couch, Jill could only lie there, eyes wide open, dizzy and confused. Jill stared at him as he smiled at her and caressed her face.

"_I know you._" Jill said, not from the kiss, but from the sound of his voice.

"_That you do._" He chuckled at her awkward appearance. She heard his voice before, spoke to him, but as of right now, she could not put a name to it. Since it seemed like she wasn't going anywhere, she decided that it would be revealed to her in due time. "_I know it's killing you that you can't remember my name._" She smiled at him and placed a willing hand on his hand that cradled her face. "_Let me help you out there…_" He bent down and whispered hoarsely into her ear, sending shivers down her spine. "_I'm…Bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep._" Her alarm clock went off before he could get out his name and slowly everything around her began to disappear right in front of her.

"_No wait…hold on._ STOP!" Jill yelled as she bolted straight up from her bed and realized it was all a dream. "Shit." She cursed as she glared at her alarm clock and silenced it for good. Sitting up in a more comfortable position, she rubbed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair as she recalled her vivid dream. She smiled at the thought as she gently touched her lips, relishing the moment. "Wow…" She whispered to herself. It may have been a dream but it felt extremely real to her. She crashed back down on her pillows feeling thoroughly kissed yet thoroughly depraved.

**----**

_Rrriiinnnggg, rrriiinnnggg, rrriiinnnggg._

"What the fu…" Chris murmured as he searched for his phone. "Yeah?" He answered.

"_Hey its Joe, what are you doing?_" Joseph asked.

"Sleeping." Chris said groggily. He hated being woken up early on a Saturday.

"_You're still sleeping?_" He asked.

"Its 7:23 on a Saturday morning, what do you expect?" Chris said as he turned to lie on his back.

"_Not much of a morning person huh?_" Joseph asked.

"Would you just cut the crap and tell me what you want?" Chris was annoyed and wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep.

"_Crap, I forgot what I was going to say._" Joseph said.

"You couldn't have called me at a more reasonable time to tell me something you don't even remember?" Chris was even more pissed off.

"_No wait, I remember. I'm just screwing with you man._" Joseph laughed. "_Anyway, the schools in the city are having a clean up at the lake and the surrounding area and our soccer team has to be there. We're gonna chill out after, wanna come?_"

"You don't know how badly I want to kill you right now." Chris said, obviously irritated at the early morning wake up call.

"_Oh, I have an inkling._" Joseph said. "_So you coming or not?_"

"Well, I'm up now so…" Chris said as he sat up on his bed and ran his hand through his hair.

"_Awesome._" Joseph cut him off. "_Do you know where the lake is at? Oh forget it, meet us at the Diner and we'll head in together._"

"Diner?" Chris asked.

"_Yeah, Emmy's Diner, next to the Cinema. You were there yesterday. What's wrong you?_" Joseph asked.

"It's Saturday morning!" Chris said.

"_Lame excuse._" Joseph laughed.

"Shut up." Chris replied.

"_Later._" Joseph said and hung up.

Chris hung up his phone as well and took another glance at his clock. "7:27, damn." He cursed and crashed back down on his bed. "This better not be routine." Chris muttered as he rubbed his face vigorously to get the sleep out of him. He stretched his arms and yawned as he got out of bed and got changed. After packing a few things he might need at the lake, he made his way down stairs, hoping he wouldn't run into anyone.

"And where are _you_ off to this early on a Saturday morning?" His father asked.

"_Damn, should've known._" Chris thought as his dad stopped him in his tracks. "I'm going with Joe and the guys to the lake, something about a clean up."

"Is that so?" His father eyed him with curiosity. "I didn't know you were into extra curricular activities."

"Yeah, so can I have my keys?" Chris asked, hoping that his dad would allow him to take his bike.

"I think it would be good for him. It will give him the chance to meet new people." Abigail said.

His father didn't enjoy giving in and despite being a sergeant in the Air Force, he wasn't as strict as he wanted to be at least when it came to his "prodigal son." "The keys are on the mantle."

"Thanks." He smiled at him and walked into the living room to get his keys.

"And you better keep clear from those Spencer kids if they are there. I don't want you getting into any more trouble." He said.

"Don't worry. I don't plan on ruining my perfect face anytime soon." He joked as he stuck his head into the kitchen. "I'll see you guys later." He smiled and walked out. Despite being woken up early and running into his dad and Abigail, Chris was in a good mood.

"Why can't he be like this all the time?" His father asked as he heard the door shut.

"Because, honey, he's just like you with your roller coaster temperament." She smiled as she placed a hand over his.

**--214 Fox St.--**

"Jill come on! Move your ass!" Ada shouted as she honked the horn of her convertible.

"I'm coming, relax!" Jill yelled as she exited her house and shouldered her tote bag.

"Why the hell are you wearing a dress?" Alyssa asked as Jill approached the car wearing a cute light blue sundress over her bikini with matching flip-flops.

"I'll wear whatever I want to wear, thank you." Jill said as she put her bag into the trunk and climbed into the back seat. "And FYI, there is no dress code for going to the lake to clean up."

"She's right you know." Ingrid said as she yawned.

"Whatever, lets just go." Alyssa said as she put on her sunglasses.

"Alright. Hold on tight girls." Ada smiled as she put her car in gear and sped out of Jill's neighborhood.

"This is why I hate riding with her." Ingrid said as she buckled her seatbelt.

As Ada drove off, Jill closed her eyes and savored the crisp, cool morning air that enveloped her warm skin. She felt extremely relaxed and let a soft moan escape her lips as she let out a deep breath. She didn't let the radio or her friend's terrible singing disturb her reverie. She remained undisturbed for a moment, but suddenly she remembered her dream and bolted upright.

"Oh my god!" Jill suddenly said, startling everyone in the car.

"WHAT!!!" Ada yelled as she gripped the steering wheel tightly and began looking around.

"Watch the road, watch the road!!!" Alyssa yelled.

"Oh my god, don't kill it!" Ingrid yelled as she shut her eyes causing everyone to look at her.

"What?!" Alyssa shouted. Everyone, save for Jill, was in panic mode.

"What?" Ingrid said as she opened her eyes to everyone staring at her. "Oh. No I just thought it was a dog or raccoon running across the street or something. That's all."

"Ing, there's something wrong with you." Alyssa said as she calmed down a bit.

"Well, I like to think there isn't." She smiled, earning a shrug from Alyssa who gave up trying to figure her out.

"God Jill, can you not do that _AT ALL_! Shit, you're going to make me crazy! Yelling for no reason." Ada exhaled as she relaxed at the wheel.

"Honey, you're already crazy." Alyssa said.

"She said it." Ingrid said.

"Bitches." She joked at her girls. "Anyway Jill, what was that about?"

"I just remembered a dream that I had." Jill said as she relaxed in her seat again.

"A dream? Jeez, that's what almost got us killed?" Ada asked.

"No Ada, that would be your driving." Alyssa said firmly but they all knew she was teasing.

"Let me guess, it left you hot and bothered." Ada teased Jill, choosing to ignore Alyssa.

Jill hesitated before she decided to answer. Its not that she was embarrassed for having one, she just needed a little time to recall the intimate contents of it and how it made her feel. "Um, yeah, I guess you can say that." She blushed lightly as she smiled.

"Oh really?" Ada raised an eyebrow. "Do tell." She said as she turned the radio down.

"Okay well, it was really weird. I was dreaming about one thing, when suddenly my dream just changed."

"Oh god I hate that." Alyssa said.

"Me too." Ingrid agreed.

"Would you shut up? I want to hear her dream." Ada said.

"Why are you so interested?" Alyssa asked.

"Dreams are interesting. And besides, like every curious mind…speaking mainly of the hormone raging opposite sex…I too am a bit curious as to what _Jill Valentine's_ subconscious mind is telling her." Ada smiled. "Do continue hun."

"Well anyway…" Jill said as she began to tell her dream from the beginning once again, making sure to recall every intimate detail she could remember. She found it a bit strange. Normally she wouldn't remember the little details or everything would be blotchy as soon as her day began, but with this dream she was able to easily recall it, from the feel of his calloused hands as it gently caressed her, to the shivers she felt and the goose bumps that aroused when he whispered in her ear.

"Wow, Jill. I would totally feel hot and bothered if I had that dream." Ada said excitedly from the driver's seat as Jill finished her story.

"Did you call up Scott and tell him about your 'secret fantasy'?" Ingrid teased.

"Er, um…" Jill hesitated while she searched for an answer to feed them.

"Oh my god…" Ada paused for dramatic effect. "It wasn't him."

"No way!" Ingrid said and stared at Jill for confirmation.

"Well…" She had no choice but to tell. After all, she was a pretty pathetic liar.

"So tell us, who does _Jill Valentine_ secretly fantasize about?" Ada looked at her through her rearview mirror.

"I do not fantasize about anyone. It was just some random dream. I love Scott." Jill defended.

"That was your subconscious mind speaking to you hun. There is obviously something bothering you and you don't even know it." Ada, the 'dream interpreter' said.

"Did you get his name?" Ingrid asked.

"That's just it!" Jill exclaimed irritably. "He was about to tell me when the fucking alarm went off! His voice was very familiar though."

"Did you at least get a look at his face?" Ingrid asked. "I mean, you wouldn't dream of just any random person. It has to be someone you know, right? Especially one as intimate as that?"

"I don't know. It was really dark but I was able to see some of his features…his face looked really gentle, but if he wanted it to be, he could look really intimidating and menacing..." Jill paused to think more about her "dream lover". "I know he had dark eyebrows and really _gorgeous_ cerulean eyes."

"Wait, how do you know you didn't make out with some ugly guy?" Ada teased as she turned on the next street corner.

"Okay, it was dark but his features were really nice. I did feel his muscular chest you know." Jill defended. She felt she was on defense mode this whole car ride. It began to irritate her slightly.

"I wonder what Scott would say if he heard you." Alyssa said.

"It was just a dream." Jill said. "I don't even know the guy, why would I leave him for some person I don't even know. _And _if I did know the person, which I don't…" She wanted to emphasize yet again, "What makes you think his dream counterpart is the same as the real thing? People are not what they seem you know."

"That's true, but you're the one making a very big deal out of it." Ingrid reminded her.

"I am not." Jill said.

"You are too, hun." Ada said.

"Whatever…let's just drop it then." Jill suddenly regretted telling everyone. She didn't know it would escalate this far. She thought she could tell them, share some laughs and forget it but Ada and her 'subconscious mind' nonsense had to interpret things.

"But I'm still curious." Ada said.

"Well you're going to stay curious." Jill said, earning a laugh from the other girls.

"Oh look, there's Chris!" Alyssa said suddenly as she spotted Richard, Joseph, and Chris parked in front of Emmy's Diner loading some stuff as Ada turned at the streetlight. "Hey pull over." Alyssa said.

"Why?" Ada asked.

"I'm going to get him to take me to the lake, on his bike." She smirked.

"Why?" Ada pressed on.

"Because my dear, I want some bonding time. Plus it would look really hot, pulling up at the lake on a bike." She smiled.

"That's not cool, Lys." Jill said.

"I agree." Ada said.

"Wow, that says _a lot_. Especially coming from Ada." Ingrid said.

"Excuse me, but I find nothing wrong with that. Just do it. If Chris says no, then I won't push it." Alyssa said from the front seat.

"Fine." Ada said as she pulled over beside them.

"Hey boys." Alyssa greeted as she stepped out of the car. They all looked up to greet her, but quickly went back to their task at hand. "Is Chris here? That's his bike right?"

"Huh?" Chris peaked out from the corner of Richard's truck, a cigarette hanging on the side of his mouth. From his appearance, one could have sworn he was a 'lazy mechanic' pretending to be productive. He didn't know what he was thinking about when it occurred, but he didn't even hear Alyssa approach, let alone the greetings from the guys.

"Hey Chris." She walked up to him.

"Oh hey, what's up?" He greeted as he took the cigarette out of his mouth and took a step back.

"_I hate smokers._" Jill whispered to the girls in the car.

"_It looks really hot though._" Ada said.

"_I just think he does it to add to his appearance_." Ingrid said.

"Well, I was just wondering…you're heading to the lake right?" Alyssa asked.

"Yeah." He answered while looking to the others for some sort of guidance and taking another puff of his cigarette.

"_God this is so embarrassing to watch._" Ingrid whispered as they watched Alyssa hitch a ride with Chris. The girls giggled as they continued to watch, easily forgetting their conversation about smokers.

"Well, I've never ridden on a bike before and I was wondering if you would give me my first…_ride._" Alyssa smiled. Chris practically choked on his smoke. God, there was so much innuendo in that sentence that Chris didn't know how to respond. If it was any other girl, that was fine, but it was Alyssa, the girl that Joseph and the others warned him to stay away from.

"Umm…." Chris said as he flicked the ashes off of his cigarette. He glanced around, hoping to find an answer somewhere in the air. He immediately spotted Jill involved in a private conversation with two other girls in the car. He smiled, thinking how cute she looked with her sunglasses covering half her face. Now if she requested a ride, he wouldn't hesitate to say yes. "I don't think it would be a good idea." He finally said. He then glanced back to Jill wondering how she would react to his response; Nothing, but he remained completely unfazed, after all he knew nothing about her. He then looked towards the guys who were giving him a thumbs-up for declining her offer. "Umm…yeah…not very good." He looked back at Alyssa, looking bit confused, though he didn't know why.

"_See now look at that_._ If you minus the cigarette, he doesn't seem all bad._ " Jill commented as they glanced towards their direction.

"_He _is _really cute, but I wouldn't date him, not even to make an ex-boyfriend jealous. He's a real hot head, so I've heard._" Ingrid said.

"_He _did_ get into a fight with Wesker, 'et al' and survived._" Ada reminded her. "_Wesker's kinda hot too._" Ada added.

"It's just a harmless _ride_." She pressed on.

"Dude, we gotta go." Joseph said as everyone hopped in the truck, ready to leave.

"Please?" She continued.

Chris sighed in defeat and took one last drag before discarding the butt in the storm drain. "Well, I guess there's no point in arguing. It's just a harmless ride..." The guys immediately began shaking their heads, hoping he would change his mind. This was so unlike him to say yes, but he knew she wouldn't stop bothering him so he decided to agree. He started up his bike and straddled it. "Hop on." He held out a hand for her to hold as she got on the seat behind him. She placed her feet on the pegs below and wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Is this okay?" She asked.

"_Wow, she can be a slut if she wanted to be_." Ada whispered earning a laugh from the others.

"Hang on tight." Chris ignored her. It was not quite the response Alyssa wanted to hear.

"Don't go too fast or I'll scream." She teased.

"No one to hear you scream, sweetheart." Chris smirked as he put on his sunglasses. He then shifted his bike into gear and rode off, earning a yelp from Alyssa who gripped him tighter.

"Oh my god." Jill suddenly whispered as something suddenly clicked.

"What is it Jill?" Ingrid asked, as she was the only one close enough to hear her. "Did you forget something?" She asked as Ada cranked the radio up and followed Richard's truck from behind.

"No…" Jill said, feeling a little surprised and oddly confused. "I think I know who my dream guy was." She said with little enthusiasm. Ingrid raised an eyebrow and stared at her. "Okay wait, that came out wrong. Let me re-phrase that." Jill said.

"Forget it. So who was it?" Ingrid whispered as Ada sang loudly with the music. "It was one of those guys right? Let me guess, it was Chris." She joked.

"Erm…" Jill hesitated.

"No way!" She whispered in surprise. "It was him?! Oh my god, that's weird."

"Isn't it?! I don't even know the guy!" Jill took a deep breath and exhaled. She turned to Ingrid and looked her straight in the eye. "Ing, I know it was only a dream but you better not tell anyone, especially those two gossip queens. They're going to blow things out of proportion and the next rumor would probably me and him making out somewhere!"

"Jill, have I ever ratted you out?" She asked sincerely.

She took a moment to think about it. "You're right." She laughed. For the remainder of the ride, they opted to bask in silence, except Ada didn't allow it as she continued to sing out of tune with the stereo.

**----**

"We're here, finally!" Ada said as she made it through the lake entrance. She parked her car a couple of slots away from where Richard and Chris had parked. "Honestly, I like David and all, he's a nice guy, but I hate being dragged to meet him and his friends because of Alyssa." Ada suddenly said.

"Wow, there's something new." Ingrid said as she grabbed her and Alyssa's things.

"I mean, they're okay, but personally, I would _never _date one of them."

"Why?" Jill asked as she shouldered her bag and straightened out the wrinkles from her dress.

Chris parked next to Richard's truck and shut off the engine before kicking the stand down. "Thanks." Alyssa said as she hopped of his bike and leaned against Richard's truck as they began off loading things from the back.

"No problem." Chris said as he took out the keys from his ignition and got off his bike.

"_Alyssa, your stuff!_" Alyssa heard Ingrid shout as they approached them.

"Coming!" She yelled then turned to Chris. "Thanks." She smiled.

"Yeah…let's just not make this a habit, huh?" Chris said much to her surprise. She threw him a fake smile then proceeded to join the other girls until she saw David approaching them. "Uh-oh."

"What?" Jill asked.

"David." She pointed to his direction. It was her intention to make him jealous, but if he started attacking Chris, she would feel very bad about it. She was beginning to think this vendetta of hers wasn't such a good idea.

"Lys, you have to stop him. If they fight, it's _not_ going to be good." Ingrid began to panic.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Chris's parents would send him to hell too. I mean he just got into a fight a couple of days ago." Ada said.

"Don't you think I know that?!" Alyssa said as she glanced to the guys, who were completely unaware about the situation that was about to unfold.

"How often do I remind you that private school girls and public school boys don't mix?" Ada teased.

"Shit, shit, shit." Alyssa muttered under her breath as David finally reached them. He glanced at Alyssa then stared Chris down.

"Do you have a problem?" Chris asked, completely unaware of who the guy standing in front of him was. If there was anything Chris despised, it was someone staring him down for no apparent reason.

"_Umm…I don't think I want to be around for this._" Jill whispered to Ingrid and Ada. "_I'm going to call Scott to see where he's at._" Jill said as she pulled her phone from her tote and walked away.

"What'd you say?" David said with disdain as he sized him up. Chris could feel his blood suddenly boiling as his temper began to flare. He felt as though a beast inside him was about to let go and tear everyone to shreds. His knuckles turned white as he clenched his fist, waiting for something more to provoke him.

"Oh shit, not good." Richard said as he noticed the two boys staring daggers at each other. This got Joseph's attention. He quickly jumped out of the truck and decided to play mediator.

"Whoa, whoa Dave, he's cool man! Relax!" Joseph ran between them. "Chris, stand down man!"

"David, hey!" Alyssa snapped at him, trying to get him to focus on her rather on Chris. She hoped that by distracting him, both of their animosity would die down. "Hey, this is Chris. He's the new guy." Alyssa nervously chuckled as she introduced her supposed crush to her ex. David quickly turned his attention back to Chris. Chris held his ground, but he was still confused as to why he was in this situation in the first place. Suddenly, it registered to him that David was Alyssa's ex and he gave her a ride to the lake on his bike. He gathered that David had seen them roll in and that jealously reared its ugly head.

"Man, forget this." Chris stepped back, not wanting to get into another fight, especially if it was a girl involved. "I just got here and everyone seems to be on my fucking case! I'm not going to fight you over some girl, I don't even fucking know you. You think I'm going to waste my time on you or anyone else here? This place is bullshit. Everyone in this goddamn place has a fucking problem!" Chris snapped, causing everyone around him to gape at him in disbelief. "Joe, man, I appreciate everything you've done for me, but I've had it with this place. I'm leaving at the first chance I get. I'm out of here man." Chris turned to get away but came face to face with Wesker who suddenly shoved him into Joseph and Richard. Chris clenched his fist and wanted nothing more than to strike him, but he knew it would be a bad idea. "I can't catch a break!" He stood up straight and dusted himself off, pretending that nothing had happened. But just as a precaution, Joseph grabbed his arm.

"Poor Chris, whining about the world are we?" Wesker taunted. Everyone was surprised to see him without his boys in tow. Nonetheless, Richard and Joseph stood behind Chris and David just in case something happened.

"What do you want Wesker?" David stepped up. Just then, Wesker's crew began approaching him from behind, each coming out from different sections in the parking lot. It was too good to be true for Wesker to be parading alone. Onlookers noticed the crowd gathering with Wesker, David and the new guy right smack in the middle. The crowd grew even bigger when Leon, Forest and Kevin arrived and stood behind David, with each and every one of them staring daggers at each other. The tension between each of them was so strong, that people passing by felt nervous.

"_This is not what I had in mind_." Alyssa whispered to Ada and Ingrid, who stood a couple of feet from the war zone.

"_It never is._" Ada said.

"_Where's Jill?_" Alyssa asked as she scanned the surrounding area for her.

"_Probably having her own battle over there_." Ingrid pointed to Jill who was on the phone, looking really upset.

"What do you say to a game?" Wesker asked him as he picked off a piece of lint from his shirt and dusted it off as to taunt him.

"We'll take you on any time any where." David said firmly with his team standing behind him.

"Game's at 12…if you can handle it." Wesker smirked as he and his team walked away, proud of what they had accomplished, or lack thereof.

"_Holy shit! They build up a crowd and get all angry only to request for a game!_" Ada said in disbelief.

"_Tell me about it! Here we are getting all nervous for nothing! Boys are so stupid!_" Ingrid was equally confused.

"_Yeah._" Alyssa sighed in relief. "_Can't live with them, can't live without them._"

"_Amen_." Ada and Ingrid both agreed as they shook their heads.

As soon as they were out of an earshot, everyone began to relax and sighed in relief that nothing erupted. However, the tension between Chris and David was still there and some of them remained uneasy.

"Joe, I'm just gonna go." He said calmly as he ignored the man of a few words. The whole time they were sizing each other up, David didn't give him a justifiable reason for putting him in this situation.

"Naw, come on. You got up this early, at least just stay until the game." Joseph knew Chris was a good guy it's just that he was always handed the wrong end of the stick, from what he had observed.

Chris stood quietly as he looked around for an excuse not to stay. Just then he spotted Jill in her cute sundress walking towards them. As she passed a group of boys, one of them had the nerve to grab her ass causing her to whip around and began spewing out obscenities. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but he had the urge to go there and pound the hell out of the guy. As he took a step forward to approach her, he saw she suddenly grabbed the guy's hand that was reaching for her breast or face, Chris couldn't tell from where he was standing, and forcefully twist it behind his back then kick him to the floor causing him to fall face first in the grass. If he wasn't already, seeing her teach that guy a lesson only confirmed his infatuation with her. He was also equally impressed that she did it with her sunglasses still neatly on her face and her bag still on her shoulder. Not waiting any longer, she turned briskly, her hair flowing in the air and coming to rest neatly behind her. She held on to the handles of her bag as she gracefully strode to meet up with Alyssa, Ada and Ingrid halfway as if nothing had happened.

"_Oh my god Jill! Did you have to kick his ass?_" Chris heard Alyssa say.

"_He was a perv! He grabbed my ass then tried to grab my breast!_" Jill defended her actions.

"_Good job Jill. I would've done the same too._" Ada defended her as well.

"_Guys are such jerks! The earlier display of testosterone was so primitive. Makes me sick_." Ingrid said as they began to make their way towards the lake to meet up with their class.

Chris kept his eyes trained on Jill and smiled, forgetting the whole ordeal earlier. "Yeah okay, I guess." He told Joseph who had been waiting for almost a minute for an answer.

"Cool." Joseph clapped him on the shoulder. "Dave is cool. Just give him time to get to know you." He whispered so that David wouldn't hear. Chris just shrugged it off and took a couple of steps back, away from view.

"Shit, I don't think I'm ready for an impromptu game." Forest began to panic as he mentally kicked himself in the ass for not practicing all week.

"Dave!" Leon called to his attention. "Dave we have a problem. Bruce and Carlos got caught putting hot sauce in Mr. Crowen's coffee." He just remembered that those two couldn't go to the lake for that very reason. At first he didn't think much of it, but now that a game has been scheduled, he began to voice his worry.

"Damn." David heaved a heavy sigh when he heard the news.

"They got life in detention." Forest said, remembering the punishment that Bruce had told him a day ago.

"Don't you think that's stretching it?" Richard asked.

"Perhaps…but their parents weren't too happy about it. They're grounded." Forest said.

"Better count them out for the game." Leon said.

"Damn, who are we gonna get?" Kevin asked.

"I don't care who we get, we just can't call the game!" Joseph said.

"Tell me about it." David said as the wheels in his head began turning, searching for an idea.

"Hey, I'll play." Billy said as he approached them out of the blue. Everyone was a bit confused and surprised that Billy would show up at the annual lake clean up at all. He definitely did not look the type to participate in any activities unless it involved some form of violence. But nobody really knew him and often jumped to conclusions when it came to him. Some people even went as far to stereotype him as a convicted murderer. It was extremely farfetched.

"You?" Leon eyed him with wide interest. Of all people, Billy Coen did not look like someone you would see playing soccer. Leon and some of the guys didn't think he knew how to play either. A majority of them sighed, as they knew this game would probably end up a disaster.

"Yeah, yeah okay." David agreed.

"Dude, we're still a man short." Just as Joseph said that, David began eyeing everyone, looking for someone decent enough to play. He looked at Chris and then towards the guy who was innocently passing by.

"You." He pointed to Brad as soon as he glanced in their direction.

"Me?" He asked as he pointed to himself while looking around.

"Where do I know you from?" David asked, having no concern for his feelings whatsoever.

"English class?" Brad said hesitantly.

"Brady right?" David said.

"Brad." He corrected.

"Whatever, you're playing."

"Bbb…But I don't know the first thing about soccer!" Brad said.

"We're a man short. We need you. You're playing." David insisted.

"But, but…" Brad stuttered for an excuse.

"No buts. Game's at 12…don't be late or you'll regret it." David said and walked off with his crew in tow, while Brad lowered his head in defeat.

**--12:17 p.m.--**

Chris sat by himself on the sideline as he watched the game in silence. The game was unofficial with no referees around to call fouls. It was just a match to earn respect, or so he figured. He wasn't quite sure why he decided to watch. He could've left, took a dip in the lake or mingle with people, which was highly unlikely, but he decided to watch the game. He didn't really know the guys from his current school and he definitely hated the opposite team, but there he was, basking in the shade of a tree, cheering for no one. Even if the game was unofficial, it did attract many of the other students from other schools. He wasn't even sure if he was sitting on the right side, but it didn't matter to him as long as he was far away from any of the Spencer students.

The game was 1 to 1 and it seemed pretty intense. Chris noticed that after Billy, the guy who volunteered scored a goal, he was knocked down by Marcus number 00. Immediately after, both teams began to scuffle near the goal. The crowd became rowdy, eager to see a fight break out between the two rival teams. It became intense as some people began hurling objects into the field to initiate a fight.

As David made his way to the goal post, Wesker, who was wearing the number 15 jersey, pushed him. "Come on King!" He said through gritted teeth as his jaw clenched tightly. David got up, marched over to him and grabbed him by the collar, ready to strike him. "Someone got lucky, huh?" Wesker said.

"You think so huh Wesker?" David said as he tightened his grip on him.

"Of course I do." He said calmly but his eyes, shaded by his signature sunglasses held a spark. At this point, about anything would set to ignite it. David, seeing that striking him would make him no better than him, pushed him into his teammates behind him. "You disappoint me. You're always searching for the easy goal. You guys are a bunch of low life losers, never going to get anywhere in life. Sometimes I worry about you." Wesker mocked as his teammates stood firmly behind him.

"Yeah, but I guess they're used to it, eh Wesker?" Jersey number 02, Birkin said and laughed out loud to ridicule them more.

"You wanna talk? Or you wanna play?" David said. "First one to three wins, _Wisker_." Both team captains eyed each other before returning to their sides.

Chris watched as David returned to his team and devised a play in a huddle. He sure felt sorry for Brad, who was forced to play a game he didn't look fit for. Chris had had enough of the game. Seeing Wesker and his team only made his blood boil and the fact that they talked down and ridiculed everyone only irritated him more. He couldn't stand it anymore. If he didn't get away soon, he felt as if he would go charging into the field and get into another fight. He began to look around searching for an easy way to slip out. As he turned to his right, he saw Alyssa waving at him and beckoned him to join her. He smiled meekly and ignored her beckoning as he turned his attention back to the game only to see David get pushed to the ground because his eyes were on him.

"_You're dead!_" Chris heard David yell as he punched the ground. As he got up, he gave Chris a deadly stare. Chris rolled his eyes and shook his head as David ran off to get the ball.

"Wow, you sure are popular." He heard someone from behind him say.

Chris looked over his shoulder to the girl behind him. He immediately smirked and went into 'cool mode' when he saw who it was. "Well, what can I say? I tend to attract a lot of attention." He chuckled slightly and turned his attention back to the game. Jill eyed him carefully, trying to figure out what he was playing at.

"I should tell you though," She paused, thinking he would turn around to face her, but he remained focus on the game. "She's really sorry." She heard him let out a light chuckle and he turned his attention back to her. She was surprised that he looked rather calm. She was expecting him to look irritated, but what did she know, she barely knew the guy.

"Did she send you to tell me that?" He asked.

"Of course not. She just told me the story, seeing that I missed out in all the action. She felt really bad how it turned out and I just wanted to make sure that you knew how terrible she felt."

"Why couldn't she tell me that herself."

"Well, she's afraid what David will do. He does tend to get a little jealous."

"Is that what you call it?" Chris asked rather sternly. Some how it sounded better in his head. He wanted nothing more that to rephrase it, but it was too late.

"I'm not trying to explain or defend him." She forced out a smile. She was beginning to dislike this attitude of his. Why he couldn't be awkward and cute like the previous day in the diner was beyond her. She wouldn't even be next to him if it weren't for the dream she had. She just wanted to take a better look and possibly find clues that would tell her it was someone else. "I merely came her to see if you were okay."

"I appreciate your concern…" He said mockingly. He figured if he was going to throw it down, he might as well go the whole nine yards. "…but I know what you meant." He said as he briefly turned his attention to the game. "I've had worse though." Chris turned his attention back to Jill.

"Albert and his crew?" She raised an eyebrow, hoping it would get him to reveal something about the fight or about him. She figured it would be good gossip; the fight material that is. If he happened to reveal something about himself, she would probably keep that to herself and exchange it for some peace around Alyssa. She felt selfish for having to think that, but when Alyssa was around, peace would be miles away.

"_Albert._" He scoffed. If only he was as harmless as his name was. "Is there anyone who doesn't know about that?" He was irritated.

"You're not afraid of him are you?" She asked.

Chris scoffed. "What's there to be afraid of?"

"So you're a tough guy, huh?"

"The words '_tough guy_' never escaped my lips." Chris said, feeling a bit on edge.

"You get into fights, race around town on your motorcycle and you flick your cigarette butts anywhere with no concern of the environment. Honestly, you couldn't even fool a clown." Jill said with a hint of attitude embedded in her tone. Chris picked it up but decided to ignore it.

"You know, here we are chatting away, you seem to know a lot about me but I don't even know your name." Chris already knew her name and he figured she did as well, but they were never formally introduced. He also wanted nothing more than to change the subject before he lost it.

"Jill Valentine." She held out her hand for a handshake.

"Chris, but I'm sure you knew that already." He smirked as he gently took her hand into his.

Jill raised an eyebrow at the choice of his words. "And seeing who you chose to hang out with, I'm sure you already knew mine." She smirked in return to counter his words.

"Indeed I did. But being formally introduced cuts off a lot of uncertainties." He smiled as he released her hand from his grip.

"I see what you mean." Jill said as she turned her attention back to the game. "Whoa, that's going to leave a mark." She said as she saw Brad go down causing Chris to turn just in time to see Wesker's team to score the winning goal. Chris was relieved that the game was finally over. "Well, that's that." Jill said, causing Chris to turn back, only to see some guy approach her from behind. Chris figured it was her boyfriend, seeing as she did not flinch. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder. "Oh hey baby." She smiled as she turned and kissed him on the cheek. "It was nice meeting you Chris." Chris nodded, before she briefly turned her attention back to her boyfriend and dragged him along with her. "_What's that smell_?" Chris heard her ask as he watched her walk away.

"_Uh...what smell?_" Scott said, as he quickly smelled his shirt. "_Oh that…that's uh, it's a new fragrance that the agency gave me. I'm going to be doing a photo shoot for it for promotion so they wanted me to use it._" He smiled as he draped his arm around her shoulders.

"_It's a men's cologne? It almost smells like a woman's fragrance. What's it called?_" Jill asked sincerely.

"_I forget._ _But if you don't like it, then I'll stop using it._"

Chris was glad that they were finally out of an earshot. He couldn't take hearing his perfect voice that matched his perfect everything. "_Smells like a woman's fragrance_." He thought bitterly. "Probably cause he's using women's perfume, fruitcake model!"

"What are you talking about?" Joseph asked as he approached him. Chris didn't realize he had said it aloud. He was glad though, that he just muttered it to himself and that Joseph or anyone around him wasn't able to make out what he said.

"Nothing." He said as he discreetly glanced in the direction that Jill walked off to. "Nothing at all."

**ƒ_in!_ Review Please **(•ˆ o ˆ•)


	4. Six Feet Under the Stars

**Well that was, what can I say…extremely disappointing. Let me break it down. Since the update, there were 314 hits and 177 visitors. Some of you added it to your alerts and favorites, but no review. Is it that hard to leave one? Now it may sound like I'm just hungry for reviews, but like I said before, how am I supposed to know if I should continue or not? By reviewing, you can let me know how I can improve as well…constructive criticism is always a plus! But if you think I'm going to be updating for the sake of the handful of people who are always consistent, then I'm really sorry, but I don't want to waste my free time…its pretty hard to come by now a days. It may sound selfish but I have a living to make. Meh…until things improve this will be my LAST chapter. If you don't want it to be the last, then tell me by REVIEWING! But anyhoo, a very big thank you to **_Magnificent Kiwi, Tiger Snaps, Stardust4,_ **and everyone else I missed.**

**Chapter 4: **Six Feet Under the Stars

After the game, everyone began to make their way back to their respective school tent to cool off and just hang out at the lake a little longer. Chris had already decided that he wasn't going to stay longer than he needed to. He began to make his way to the parking lot when he felt someone tap his shoulder. He stopped and immediately turned around only to get sacked in the face. His vision immediately went blank for a moment and he felt as if he was literally seeing stars. He shook his head in order to clear his sight as well as shake the pain away. It didn't seem to work however. He clutched his face as if he were trying to re-adjust his jaw. It had been a long time since he got hit in the face full force and by god it wasn't something he missed.

"Oh my god Chris!" Alyssa yelled, startling her friends as she saw David strike him for no apparent reason. "_David!_" She yelled, and began making her way to them.

"Oh shit." Joseph said as he and everyone else ran towards them in order to prevent it from escalating to something bigger.

"That was for the game!" David said as he shook the pain from his fist. "_Damn guy has a hard head!_" He thought as he stretched his fingers behind his back.

Chris stared at him as he clenched his fist. It surprised him that he was not as angry as he would like to be. Perhaps it was because he knew it was inevitable considering Alyssa's involvement. So no, he wasn't mad, but he just wanted nothing more than to return the favor. David eyed him and silently taunted him to make his move. Chris cocked back his arm, but before he could let his fist go flying, Alyssa crashed into his chest and knocked him a couple of steps back. "Chris! No, please! Don't do it." She pleaded. Chris stared down at her, void of any emotion. He felt as if he was a machine, a robot; The Terminator perhaps? No, that was too farfetched but it was something interesting to think about. But Chris always had this notion that if someone hits you, then you hit him back…at least that's how he's always done it…but only if they deserved it. He wasn't a bully after all. He was very proud though, and if someone threatened it, then by nature, he was going to defend it.

"Chris, please!" Alyssa begged.

"_Yeah Chris, please._" He heard Alfred mock as he passed by with some of his friends in tow. "What a douche." He laughed as he continued on his way.

Chris stared at Alfred then immediately looked to David. He could feel everyone's eyes on him, curious of what his next move would be. Turning his attention to Alyssa, he then unclenched his fist, deciding to take an alternate route. It wouldn't be wise to strike David, considering some of his friends were his 'friends' too. That and they go to the same school. The last thing Chris wanted was another Spencer incident. "Fuck this shit." Chris cursed. "You're not worth my effort." He said through gritted teeth, as he suddenly felt his blood start to boil. Why only now did he start to feel angry? Perhaps it was his inability to defend his pride, or was he angry with himself for choosing a path that he normally wouldn't. Either way, controlling his temper wasn't something he was very good at, but he would eventually have to learn how. Chris shook his head and prepared to leave.

"Yeah, walk away." David said as Chris slowly turned around.

"Chris, I'm so sorry." Alyssa apologized. He looked to her and it almost looked as if she was about to cry.

"Why? Did you hit me?" He asked.

"No." She replied, feeling somewhat confused.

"Then don't apologize for something you didn't do." Chris said flatly and gently pushed her out of his way.

"Aw, look at him walk away with his tail tucked between his legs_._" Alfred paused to taunt him even after his friends had left him. Because Chris didn't fight David, he thought that Chris would probably ignore him as well. Chris smirked and walked up to Alfred who was already walking away. When he was in reach, he grabbed Alfred by the shoulder and pulled his arm back, ready to punch him. "Ahhh," Alfred suddenly squealed like a girl. His knees gave and fell to the ground, bracing himself for the contact. Just before Chris's fist came in contact with him, he opened his hand and slapped him like a bitch.

"Don't fuck with me." He said in a very intimidating manner as he pointed to him with his free hand. He then released him causing him to fall to the ground completely. Without a glance back, he walked away and placed his hands in his pocket, as though nothing happened.

**--5:23 p.m.--**

Chris had no problem making his way back home from the lake. Once he traveled that route, he was pretty good at remembering directions. Once he finally got home, he parked his bike right on the driveway and made his way inside. Upon entering, he slammed the door shut and placed his helmet on the table along with his keys. He was irritated and didn't bother hiding it.

"Oh you're home, how was the…what happened?" Abigail asked upon noticing the faint red mark on his face that was obviously not there earlier in the day. She was really concerned about him, but Chris couldn't care less.

"Where's my dad?" Chris ignored her.

"He's out back." She was a little upset that he didn't want to open up to her, but it wasn't something that she could force out of him. She just had to accept it, for now.

"Relax, I didn't throw any punches." He said to her and made his was out back to where his dad was at.

"Dad, we need to talk." Chris said as calmly as he could as he watched his dad fidget with the lawn mower.

"What's up son?" He asked, while he continued to work on replacing the lawn mower's broken blade.

"I know I've said this time and time again, but this time I'm serious." He said calmly. He was trying really hard to be civilized about it.

"Hand me that screw over there?" His dad pointed to it.

"Dad…" Chris said as he looked on the ground for the screw his dad requested for.

"I'm listening, go on."

"I tried. I honestly tried, but I can't take it here anymore. I…"

"How many times am I going to tell you that we're not going to move for the sake of your well being?"

"I'm not saying we all have to. I can stay at Don's until I gra…" Chris said but was immediately cut off by his dad.

"No means no. You can't run away from everything you hate. You really need to grow up and cut that shitty attitude of yours you know!" He said, still not taking his sight off the lawn mower.

"_Run away huh?_" Chris thought as his temper began to flare again. His dad didn't even have the decency to talk to him face to face and that pissed him off even more. "Man, fuck it and fuck you!" Chris cursed. It was the first time he cursed at his dad. He was definitely going to feel bad later, but right now, he couldn't give a shit. He just wanted to leave and that's exactly what he had in mind.

"Chris!" His dad finally stopped tinkering with the lawn mower to face him, but Chris had already stormed out.

"Chris where are you…what's going on?" Abigail asked as he brushed past her. She had watched everything from inside and was a bit upset too that his dad didn't hear him out. "Chris wait!" She said, but Chris didn't respond, nor did he even acknowledge her presence. He just grabbed his helmet and keys and bolted out the door. She followed him in attempt to stop him, but once he was on his bike, there was nothing more she could do. "Chris!" She called out once again as he rode off.

"He'll be back." Nick said as he met Abigail in the driveway.

"What the hell is the matter with you?!" She was extremely upset with him at the moment. "Did you even know that he got into another fight, but didn't do anything because you told him not to?" Nick was speechless. "No of course not because you didn't bother to _really_ talk to him. You're such an ass." She said as she grabbed her keys and left to find Chris.

**----**

Chris rode around town, though extremely angry, he wasn't speeding. Since his intentions were to ride back to New York, he thought it best to conserve gas. He rode around town in search for the bridge that connected the state to its neighbor, but to no avail. After thirty long minutes of searching, he was growing frustrated. He wasn't in this town long enough to be familiar with its roads and further cursed his dad for choosing to move. It was also as if Raccoon City didn't want him to leave either. As he approached one of the streetlights, it turned red and he came to a halt behind some of the cars. He glanced at his gas gauge that read ¼. There was no way he would make it back to New York on a fourth of gas and he didn't have any money to refuel. Further frustrated with the situation, he revved his engine hard, causing it to let out a deep mean roar that caught the attention of people everywhere. They stared and muttered about themselves as some continued down the sidewalk. It was apparent that people have heard of the newbie delinquent in town, but Chris couldn't care less. He had a plan, and despite having no money, he was determined to see it through. Just as the light turned green and shifted into first gear, someone called his name. He furrowed his brow as he glanced to the sidewalk. He saw someone wave slightly at him but the surrounding lights made it difficult for him to see who it was. As he slowly moved with traffic, he continued to glance at the person until he saw who it was. He immediately pulled over as Jill walked over to him.

"What's up buttercup?" Chris said as he shut off his engine and kicked down the stand. He then took off his helmet and placed it over the gas tank. Upon seeing her since he left the lake, he finally began to calm down and forget about everything bad that had happened earlier.

"_Buttercup?_" She thought. Jill was a bit speechless with his greeting. She realized she had not replied when he continued to look at her. "I didn't realize we were on that sort of basis." She raised an eyebrow.

"Look, if you're upset with that, I can find other things to call you." Chris said as he leaned over his helmet.

"Excuse me?" She was offended that he would actually say something like that, especially since they _just_ met. She was just about to spew all kinds of obscenities, but Chris cut her off before she could even begin. Normally, she wouldn't be thinking about doing something like that, but she wasn't in a good mood to begin with.

"Jill right? Don't worry, I didn't forget." He smiled at her, causing the whole ordeal to melt away before her. She was surprised that just a smile could cause her to change her mood so quickly. "So what's up? What are you doing here anyway?" He said as he looked at the surrounding area. It looked rather shady and definitely not a place where Jill should be, especially at a time like this. Well, it wasn't too late at all, but still, Chris didn't think she should be there no matter what time it was.

"I'm actually supposed to meet my boyfriend here, _but_ he just called and said he couldn't make it…something about a photo shoot." She said irritably.

"He told you to meet him here?" Chris asked. He got irritated that she was stood up, yet he felt really happy because he knew she wasn't with him. He figured he could use this opportunity to get close to her. It was a bit sneaky to go out with another guy's girl, but he couldn't care less, especially if the guy was dumb enough to stand up his extremely beautiful girlfriend. "_What a fruitcake._" Chris thought as he grinned evilly in his mind.

"Well, I needed to go to the art gallery for my project and he said he would go with me. He only told me to meet him here because it's closer from where he's coming from."

"And how far is it from your house to here?" Chris asked with a tilt of his head.

"Erm…about twelve, thirteen blocks." Jill said as she mentally calculated the distance.

Chris scoffed. "You mean to say you walked all the way here from your house?!"

"Um, no."

"Oh." Chris sighed in relief.

"I began walking but my dad sent someone to bring me here." Jill said. For some reason, she was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable. She didn't know whether it was his prying or his presence, but she didn't feel inclined to find out. As of right now, she wanted nothing more than to go to the gallery. She knew that if she didn't get there in time, then should would need an excuse come Monday why she wasn't able to do her assignment when she had all week to get it done. She put if off for far too long and it needed to get done now. "Yeah, that's basically it." She said as she shifted uncomfortably from where she stood.

"Oh." Chris said. He felt a little stupid for assuming someone like Jill would walk almost a mile to meet someone. "Anyway…" He began.

"I'm so sorry." Jill cut him off. "But if I don't get to the gallery before it closes, I'm totally screwed." Jill said as she prepared to leave. "So I really have to go."

"Oh, yeah, right…Uh…um would you like some company?" Chris asked. He didn't know what came over him. It wasn't like him to ask anyone if they wanted company.

Jill turned to face him. She stared at him, debating whether or not she should take up his offer. He definitely didn't look like someone who would enjoy going to an art gallery. "Thanks for the offer, but you're probably busy, so I wouldn't want you to give up your free time in order to go to some gallery that would probably bore you out of your mind."

"Ouch!" Chris said, pretending to be offended. "So you just assume that all I want to do is cause trouble and ride my bike around town?" He sat up straight on his bike.

Jill paused for a second before replying. "Yep, pretty much." She nodded. She was being straightforward, not really caring about cushioning the blow. Besides, he looked like someone who can take a hit, even if it wasn't physical. "How's you face by the way?"

"Still intact." He said as he squeezed it. "But wow, double ouch!" He clutched his chest as if someone shot him.

"Oh come on." She approached him slowly. "Are you telling me that you can't take a hit from a girl?" She asked as she playfully punched his right shoulder, the uncomfortable feeling she harbored earlier began to melt away.

"Something tells me you're no ordinary girl." He smirked as he recalled her earlier martial arts "exhibition" at the lake. "So what do you say?"

"Well…" She thought for a moment. "I guess…I guess it can't be that bad."

"Wow, you really find the most hurtful things to say to a guy." Chris said.

"I just don't want you to get the wrong idea." She smiled as she took out her phone. "Give me a second." She walked away as she dialed a number. "_Hello? Dad? You don't have to get me anymore._" Chris heard her speak to the person on the other end of the phone. "_Desmond is on the way? Oh, okay…okay…thanks dad. Um, will you be home tonight? Oh…_"She sounded rather disappointed which in turn caused Chris to feel a little sorry for her. "_Okay…okay._"Chris continued to eavesdrop on her conversation. "_Well, I'll see you then. Alright, love you too, bye._" She hung up her phone and placed it in her bag. "Well, let's get going then!" She put on a smile as she approached Chris. He could tell something bothered her behind that smile of hers, but he decided not to ask for fear she would just decline his offer and go to the gallery alone. He smiled at her and handed her his helmet. "Shouldn't you be the one wearing it?"

"I'll be okay." He said as he continued to hold it out to her.

"You sure?" She asked as she hesitantly took hold of his helmet in her petite hands.

"Don't you trust me? Besides, I doubt you'd want to be seen riding around with a delinquent." He joked as he started his bike.

"That's true." She said. Chris's head immediately fell between his shoulders in defeat.

"Damn." Chris muttered. The girl definitely knew how to bring a guy down.

"Oh please." She said as she put the helmet on. It was a little big on her but it wasn't uncomfortable. "I find it extremely hard to believe that someone like you would be offended by that. Besides, don't you get a kick out of it?" She said as she fiddled with the locking mechanism.

"Not really." He smiled at her as he watched her struggle with the straps. "Come here." He beckoned to her. He reached out and guided her hands with the lock. She immediately froze when she felt his hands over hers. "Okay, do you feel these two rings?" She heard him say, but all she could focus on was how different his hands felt. "You loop this strap through both rings…" He said as he guided her other hand and had her put the strap in the loops. Jill noted how his hands felt very rough, yet very tender. "_Is that even possible?_" She thought as she watched him help her with the lock. Clearly, she wasn't paying any attention to what he was saying. "…Then you bring the strap back and loop it through the bigger ring like so…" Suddenly, she thought of her dream. She tried to recall the feel of his touch and compare it to his but she had a hard time trying to remember. It wasn't that she had already forgotten; her mind was already preoccupied with the current situation. "…Then you button it for added security." Chris finished explaining and removed his hands from the helmet with her still holding on to him. He was a bit surprised to find her still grasping on to him. "Hey _Princess, _you okay there?" He asked.

Jill had not realized he had finished his explanation and felt extremely embarrassed that she still held on to him even after. She felt her face flush as she let go of his hands and immediately grabbed the helmet to test its security. "So that's how you lock it!" She chuckled nervously in hopes that he wouldn't catch her blunder.

"Yep, pretty much." He said coolly. This was the first time she actually got a good look of him. She noted his gorgeous cerulean eyes held a stern yet gentle expression, similar to the guy in her dream. Her gaze suddenly fell to his lips and wondered what it would be like to kiss him, if it would be the same as in her dream. She didn't realize it, but she began to blush as she thought of her dream. "Whoa," Chris cut off her train of thoughts. "Are you okay? You look all red." He asked.

"Um, um…" She stammered. "It's just getting a little hot in here." Her face flushed even more out of embarrassment. She began fanning her face with her hand in order to make her slip seem true.

"Don't worry, once we get moving, it'll get cooler." He smiled. "Now let's get you to the museum before it closes." He said as he put down the passenger pegs.

"Art gallery." She corrected as she placed one foot on the passenger peg and straddled the bike.

"Whatever." He said. Art gallery, museum, mausoleum, they all sounded the same to him. "Ready?" He asked.

"Wait…" She said, feeling extremely embarrassed about the question she was about to ask. "How, erm, how am I supposed to hold on to you?"

Chris had a huge smile plastered on his face, but she couldn't see it. He was glad for it too. "However you feel comfortable." He told her. He then felt as she placed her arms around his waist. She felt a little uncomfortable, not because of the intimacy per se, but because she didn't sit right. She felt safer holding him this way, but it required her to lean into him and thus squish him against the gas tank. "Ready?" He asked.

"Um…no." She said as she then placed her hands on his shoulders. She didn't feel safe holding him this way, but it was more comfortable as it allowed her to sit in a more upright position.

"Ready now?" Chris was a little disappointed that she didn't hold him around the waist, but was glad all the same that he got to pack her on his bike. She wouldn't be the first girl in Raccoon City, but he couldn't care less.

"Is there no comfortable way to sit?" She asked as she wrapped one arm around his chest, just below his arm and draped the other over his shoulder, experimenting on the different ways to sit.

"Not sure, never was a passenger. But if you feel more comfortable holding on to my shoulders, you can do that. If I plan to go faster, then I'll signal you to hold on to my waist. Is that a deal?" He asked.

"Sounds good to me." She said as she placed her hands on his shoulder once again.

"One more thing, do NOT counter my turn." He said as he spoke over his shoulder.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"If I lean into a turn, lean with me, _not_ against me. Got it?"

"Got it." She smiled.

"Good." He said as he reached over with his right hand and shut her visor.

"Hey!" She said as he put his bike in gear and rode off, ignoring her completely. With his bike in gear, he purposely revved the engine, causing the bike to lurch forward suddenly. Jill jerked back and fearing for her safety, she opted to drape one arm around his waist while she held on to his shoulder with her other hand in order to prop her upright. Chris felt a little mischievous for doing so, but he was just wanted to feel Jill closer to him.

As they approached the oncoming traffic light, Jill noticed how Chris began to look around. He then downshifted and turned over his shoulder. "Um, Jill, I don't know where the museum is."

"What?" She asked as she lifted the visor.

"I don't know where the museum is." He spoke over his shoulder and quickly turned his focus back to the streets.

"I should've known." She chuckled slightly. "Don't worry, I'll direct you to the _gallery_." She smiled at his uncertainty. She then closed the visor half way so that she would receive sufficient airflow and at the same time be able to talk and hear Chris.

**----**

From where they started, it only took them thirty minutes to reach the art gallery. To Chris and Jill's surprise, there weren't many people there. Chris was a bit happy, knowing that they probably wouldn't run into anybody. He parked his bike and turned it off. Jill immediately hopped off, with a huge smile on her face. "That was fun! And that one turn, you got so low that I could practically touch the ground if I stuck my hand out!" She said as she struggled to remove the helmet. "You're…you're really good you know."

"Come here." He chuckled slightly. It was apparent that she wasn't paying attention to him earlier. He unbuckled the straps and gently lifted the helmet from her head.

"Sorry." She smiled as she watched Chris secure his helmet underneath the passenger seat.

"Shall we?" He asked as he pocketed his keys.

"Are you sure you want to go in? It's not too late to back out you know." She said as she smoothed out her hair.

"I said I was going to accompany you, didn't I? Now get going before the museum closes." He said as he gently turned her around by pushing her shoulder forward.

"You said it." Jill said as she led the way. It was extremely weird for her to be hanging out with him, but some how, she felt very comfortable with his presence. He didn't seem like most guys who just wanted to get in her pants, not that she would let them, nor did she feel like he was the type that had to impress her every time. He may have been labeled a delinquent, but she didn't seem to see that behavior present anywhere, even when they had their very first encounter at the mall and at the diner. He was just misunderstood perhaps.

"You go on ahead. I'm going to kick back out here first." Chris said as they neared the entrance.

"Nuh-uh." She said as she saw him taking out his cigarettes. "You're not going to be smoking under my watch." She said as she grabbed his cigarettes and obliterated them over the trashcan, causing Chris's heart to melt.

He slumped his head and shoulders over and began to whine. "I just…that was a new pack." He sounded so defeated that Jill just wanted to laugh at him, but she refrained from doing so.

"Does it look like I care?" She was serious. Chris stood up straight but had the look of a child that was denied a brand new toy. "Chris, you're young and healthy. Why would you want to jeopardize your life with these cancer sticks?"

"I…It's just…I…um…" Chris stammered with his words. He felt exactly how he felt the second time he met her at the diner, awkward and confused.

"How are you allowed to buy them anyway? Aren't you under age?"

"Uh…" Chris was beginning to sweat under this interrogation. Jill just had this presence about her that he was willing to reveal everything about him. But what mystery would he have left? "I plead the fifth." He said and immediately entered the gallery before she said anything else.

"Don't think I'm finished with you _sir!_" She said as she followed right behind him.

"Uh, so what's your assignment?" Chris asked as he completely ignored her last statement.

She eyed him carefully, just so he would know that she was still on to him. "Well…" She paused as she took out a piece of paper from her bag and began to read it. "…I need to find a piece, sculpture, painting, drawing, whatever, and write a three page report with at least three reputable sources. I need to include information about the artist, the style that the artist works in and how he or _she_ is different or similar to other artists in that particular style, how it was influenced by the world around that particular time…"

"Okay, okay, I get." Chris said. "I have a headache just thinking about it."

Jill rolled her eyes as she pocketed the piece of paper. "Okay _Einstein_, just keep close. Wouldn't want you to get lost, now would we?" She said as she began her tour of the gallery.

"Well, I am your ride." Chris followed as she entered the first hall of displayed art.

"Its not like I can't push a button and have someone be here to pick me up, you know." Jill said as she stopped at a painting that seemed to amuse her. She then took out a piece of paper and scribbled down the name.

"A modern day princess. I'm truly amazed." Chris said sarcastically as he looked at the paintings on display. Jill ignored him as she continued on. "So…are these all originals or are they replicas of the big names?" Chris asked as he stuck his hands in his pockets and looked around.

"Um…" Jill said as she brought her pen to her lips, debating whether or not the painting she was staring at was worthy of her list. "Both." She said as she scribbled something on her paper and proceeded to the next painting that caught her eye. Chris thought she looked particularly cute as she surveyed each painting with meticulous thought.

"Both huh?" Chris said as he continued to watch her.

"Yeah, they display local talent but they also like to display replicas so we can learn about them." She said. He liked how she furrowed her brow each time a painting intrigued her or how she would stare blankly at a painting that did the exact opposite. He chuckled each time she wrote down the name of a painting that didn't move her.

"You know, we're only in the first wing and you practically picked the whole selection here. How are you supposed to narrow things down to one?" Chris said as he peeked over her shoulder, startling her slightly.

Jill glanced at her paper and then to the paintings in the surrounding area. "Oh my god you're right." She said as she did a double take and let out a deep sigh. "Guess I have to start over." She said with little to no enthusiasm. She was beginning to hate this assignment and Chris could see it in her. Just as she was proceeding to the first painting, Chris caught her by the wrist, causing her to turn and face him with a look of surprise.

"No." He let go of her wrist as he began to explain his notion. "No, this hall is over. Done." He motioned 'cancel' with hand gestures. "Come." He said as he took hold of her wrist once again and led her to another area. "You need to find a painting that just captures you." He said as he made a fist to gesture the word _capture._ He didn't know why, but he felt particularly motivated and full of life at this very moment. "Here," He paused at a painting. "Take Monet for instance. Sure, he has some weird fixation with water lilies, but you have to admit, his works are just _captivating_." He let out a deep breath. Jill raised an eyebrow with this newfound knowledge that he had. This certainly was a side of Chris she never thought she would see or knew he had. She was also equally impressed that he was able to spot Monet without reading the side note. "Now I'm not saying you should write about Monet. If impressionism doesn't float your boat, why bother right?"

"_Impressionism?_" Jill thought as she continued to hear him out. "_How does he know these stuff?_"

"There's gotta be something here that _BAM,_" Chris punched his hand, causing Jill to jump slightly. "…Once you see it, you'll know that that's the piece you want to do your report on." Chris paused to think. "Hmm, maybe…maybe like falling in love for the first time, or something..." Chris suddenly recomposed himself and placed his hands in his pocket again. He didn't want to bring it up but Jill looked like she needed some motivation and inspiration. "Just think of how you felt the first time you met your boyfriend. Remember how nervous and jittery you felt when you first saw him, how the butterflies in your stomach had kittens the first time he spoke to you..." Jill noted how dull his expression was, but chose to ignore it. She then took his words into consideration and began to think back to when she first met Scott. She thought really hard but for some reason, she couldn't recall ever being so jittery and nervous around him. It was probably because their relationship just suddenly happened. It was about three or four months ago, before he was 'discovered.' He was doing work-study at the University's library in order to pay for college. Since Jill had a research paper to do, she was constantly there, and he would gradually strike up small conversations with her. It just so happened late one night that he kissed her and they ended up a couple after that. It wasn't very romantic, but at least she had someone to share intimate things with.

The more she thought about it, the more dull and boring it seemed to her but she couldn't very well flat out tell Chris. Now here he was, giving her something to feed on, but she had no form of inspiration. What the hell was she supposed to do now? Cut him off of his little oration? No, that would be a bit rude considering how hard he was trying to help her. She then thought of her dream and how it made her felt after. It suddenly dawned on her that she did feel a bit of those emotions from it. She began to smile as she found some form of inspiration and continued to listen to what Chris had to say. "…You need to choose something that can replicate this feeling. Something that would, I don't know, make you smile, cry, laugh, leave you in a state of fluster, but in the end, you know it was worth it." He said as he gazed up at the ceiling as if he were trying to relive a distant memory. She stared at him in amazement as she began to wonder what exactly went on in that mind of his. Was he a delinquent or an intellect…perhaps both. The thought of it made her even more curious.

"You, sir, are an enigma, you know that?" Jill smiled as she wagged her pen at him. She had this strange desire to tell him that she wanted to know more about him, but he might take it the wrong way. The last thing she wanted was some sort of misunderstanding, so she decided to keep the latter comment unsaid. Now if it were to be carried out without his knowledge, then that was a different story.

"And you, _princess,_ owe me two packs of cigarettes, but what can I say?" He shrugged as he gestured her to move first.

"That's something you'll never get out of me…and stop calling me _princess._" She smiled as she led the way once again.

"Sure thing _princess._" Chris winked at her as she looked back and glared at him. He just smiled and followed her from a distance, casually glancing at paintings around him. Chris stopped a couple of feet from her as he observed a sculpture in the middle of the room. As he circled it like a vulture, he saw a lady, perhaps in her early twenties, approach Jill. Chris noted that she could definitely pass as the hot librarian, or in her case, the hot curator. She really looked like the type who had both an innocent side and a feisty side. Chris smiled as he watched her stick a pencil in the hair.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear you two earlier and I just _had _to tell you that you really have a great boyfriend there to motivate you." She suddenly told Jill.

"Oh no, we're not…" Jill couldn't finish as she cut her off.

"I see couples come in here all the time to do their assignments and all their boyfriends do is sit around. Him on the other hand, seemed so passionate in what he was saying that anyone would be motivated after listening to him, I know I was." She sighed as she glanced at Chris. He was about to touch the sculpture but when he glanced towards their direction, he quickly retracted his hand and smiled as he scratched the back of his head out of embarrassment. "He definitely is a keeper." She smiled at Jill and went on her merry way.

"Great, now she has the wrong idea." Jill muttered to herself. She then glanced around the hall they were in and Chris was nowhere to be found. "Great, now where did he go?" She said as she turned to where the curator disappeared. No sign of him. "Chris?" She called out as she began searching the halls. "Where'd you go?" She said as she briefly stuck her head around the corner to see if he was in the west hall. Still no sign of him. She began to grow irritated. Here she was trying to finish her assignment, but how could she do that when her companion was missing? "Seriously Chris, if this is some stupid joke, I'm not laughing." She said as she entered the east hall. Surely enough there he was lying down on a bench with his feet hanging down and staring up at the ceiling. "I should've known." She said as she hovered over him with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Should've known what?" He asked as he tilted his head without moving from his current position on the bench.

"Should've known that your little pep talk was just so you can run off and relax while I stroll this _museum_ by myself." Jill said as she stared down at him. She didn't know why she was suddenly irritated with him. Perhaps what the curator had said to her had some effect on her.

"Is that what you think?" He asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"It's what I see in front of me." She stated sternly. She was growing a little impatient with him and was also irritated that he was still lying on the bench, looking up at her. Jill noticed how cute he looked just lying there looking all innocent. She had to refrain herself from smiling, because she was currently 'irritated' with him.

"Is that so? Well take a good look around. What do you see?" He said as he watched her glance around the room. She noticed that there were no individual paintings displayed on the walls, but it wasn't completely blank either. The only thing she saw was the single bench that Chris was lying on in the middle of the room. "Nothing huh?" He confirmed her suspicion…well, somewhat.

"What are you getting at Chris?" She tapped her foot impatiently. He didn't say anything. Instead, he pointed up to the ceiling and she saw it covered by a forest painted in deep green. The leaves and branches were intertwined with each other and cascaded over them like a blanket. "Whoa." She commented as she twirled in order to view the whole ceiling. Then she glanced at the walls and saw the trunks of the trees scattered in meticulous places. Chris watched as she looked around, noticing how good she looked from his point of view.

"You know if you stare at it long enough, you could swear you were lying in a real forest." He said as he placed his hands under his head. She looked down at him again and noticed there was enough space on the other end of the bench for her. She moved to the other end and sat down. She glanced behind her as she lied down so she would not hit him. It was no use though. If she put her head down completely, she would come in contact with his head. He was just taller so he took up more of the bench. Chris realized the problem when he heard her fidget some more. He then moved his head to the side so she would have a place to put her head.

"Thank you." She said as she laid her head beside his and glanced up at the ceiling. The both of them gazed at the ceiling for almost a minute without saying a word to each other. "You know you're right." She broke the silence. "Its almost like you can hear and see the leaves rustle in the wind. It's very beautiful."

"Uun." He acknowledged her with a slight grunt. "It was inspired by Da Vinci's Ceiling Decoration done between 1496…or sometime around there, I forget."

"How do you know it's not just the replica?" Jill asked, further amazed with his knowledge of art.

"It's a night scene. You can faintly see the stars _twinkling_ in the background." He pointed it out to her.

"Oh yeah." She saw what he was seeing. "How is it you know so much about art?" Her curiosity suddenly got the best of her and she asked the question so unexpectedly.

Chris paused for a second before deciding to answer. "My mom loved art." She heard him take a deep breath. It sounded as if he had a hard time trying to explain things. "She…She used to take me to art galleries when I was little. Said she wanted me to be a _cultured young man_." He chuckled at the thought of it.

"She sounds great. I'd love to meet her some time." She smiled, although he couldn't see her.

"She's dead." He said flatly.

Jill felt as though she had been stabbed in the heart with a dull dagger. She immediately sat up, feeling really bad for bringing up such a difficult subject. "I'm so sorry." She apologized.

"For what?" He asked as he sat up beside her, his feet hanging on the opposite side of hers.

"I just…" She struggled for the right words to say.

"You didn't know and how were you supposed to." He said as he placed his hands on the bench on either side of his legs and hunched over as he stared at the mosaic-tiled floor. "Forget about it. It was a long time ago." He said as he tilted his head to face her.

"In any way, I'm really glad it was you who came with me here." She looked at him as she placed a willing hand on his shoulder. He was surprised at the sudden gesture and glanced at her hand before looking up at her. Upon meeting her gaze, he felt a sharp tingle in the depths of his chest. He felt as though his chest would suddenly burst open. It was such a new sensation to him that he didn't know how to react. He knew she felt it too by the look in her eyes. There was definitely a connection between them that was undeniably felt by the both of them. She smiled at him and slowly began to tilt her head towards him. She was about to find out if he kissed just as passionately as his dream counterpart. Just as she was about to close the gap between them, Chris chuckled suddenly as he moved away just slightly and scratched the back of his head. He tended to do that often out of embarrassment or to make light of a difficult situation.

"Well, it certainly beat riding back to New York with only $2.73 in my pocket." He changed the subject to avoid any awkwardness. The last thing he wanted to do was something she might regret, even though if he wanted it so badly. He was willing to save her from any form of humility even if it meant his pain.

"You were planning to run away?" She asked as she retreated to her comfort zone, feeling slightly embarrassed but did her best to not show it. "_What the hell was I thinking?!_" Her mind began racing. "_Oh my god, that could've been a disaster!_"

"Well, if you haven't already noticed," Chris interrupted her train of thoughts. "The townies haven't exactly been so kind to me." He said as he glanced up at the ceiling once again.

"Chris, you do know that no matter where you go, there's always going to be someone who doesn't see eye to eye with you. You can't always expect to be liked by everyone anywhere you go. The world doesn't revolve that way. That's life and you just have to live with it."

"I know that." He said as he kept his gaze trained at the ceiling.

Just as she was about to say something to Chris, somebody suddenly called to her. Surprised, she and Chris both looked up to see who it was.

"Rebecca?! Oh my god, what are you doing here?" Jill asked as she looked at the younger girl, hoping against hope that she wasn't there earlier to witness something that _almost_ happened.

"I…I didn't finish my assignment for art class yet." She said shyly.

"Really? Wow, I thought you'd be first to be done." Rebecca blushed out of embarrassment. "Don't sweat it, I'm nowhere near done either." She tried to make her feel better. "You're not here by yourself are you?"

Rebecca shook her head. "I'm here with my mom." She pointed to a petite lady staring at a painting in the corner.

"Oh okay. Oh by the way, this is Chris…" Jill thought for a second and realized that she didn't know his last name. She would have to check the fake I.D. she managed to pilfer from him later on. "Chris, this is Rebecca Chambers. She might seem young, but she's really mature and smart for her age. We actually have some classes together. She's a real sweetheart." Jill said.

"_So this is the Rebecca Chambers that Claire mentioned._" Chris thought. "It's so very nice to meet you Ms. Chambers." He said politely as he extended his hand for a handshake. Rebecca blushed slightly as she shook his hand.

"Rebecca-chan." Her mother called as she approached them. "_Nani wo surundesuka?_"

"_Mama, ima tomodachi to hanashiteimasu kedo. Eeto, kochira wa Jiru to Kurisu._" Rebecca introduced Chris and Jill to her mother. They both waved at her as she smiled at them.

Chris then glanced to Jill and whispered. "Is she Korean?"

"She's half Japanese. Her dad is British but she grew up in the states." Jill said.

"Oh." Chris felt stupid that he couldn't differentiate between the two Asian languages.

"_E _(pronounced as _eh_)_ wo erabimasuka?_" Her mother asked.

"_Mada kimeteimasen._" Rebecca responded, feeling slightly bad.

"_Jaa, hayaku kimenasai yo. Juuji ni papa ga ie ni kaeri._" From Chris and Jill's point of view, they could tell her mother was a very sweet woman just the way she talked to her daughter.

"_Hai, wakarimashita._" She said to her mother and turned back to Chris and Jill who stared at her in bewilderment. "Well, I really need to go. I have to choose a painting and be home before my dad gets home. Bye Jill. It was nice to meet you Chris."

"It was nice meeting you too." Chris said.

"Bye Rebecca. Bye Mrs. Chambers." Jill said.

"Oh, Ayumi is just fine Jill." She said without the trace of a Japanese accent. Jill smiled as she acknowledged her request. "_Jaa, iku yo_." Rebecca's mother said as she guided her to another section of the gallery.

"She seems really nice." Chris said.

"Yeah, she really is." Jill said as she watched Rebecca and her mother disappear around the corner.

"So have you made a decision too?" Chris asked.

Jill glanced at him then looked straight ahead. "You know, I think I've made up my mind."

"That's great." Chris said as he got up. "Shall we go then?" He held out a hand to her.

"Yes we shall." She said as she grabbed onto his hand. He pulled her up at the same time she jumped up causing her to crash into him. "Oof…Sorry." She said as she looked up at him.

"Jill?" Someone called to her yet again. "_Wow, is there nowhere I can go where nobody knows me?_" Jill thought irritably. She then looked to the source of where the voice came from and immediately backed away from Chris.

"Scott." She was extremely surprised to see him there. Chris felt his heart sink upon seeing him there, as if someone took his heart, grinded it in a meat grinder and walked all over it. "What are you doing here?" She asked as she approached him. Chris looked over and saw Scott glare at him then forcefully kiss Jill. She was really irritated with him at the moment that she didn't feel like kissing him much, but it didn't seem that way from Chris's point of view. He shook his head as he glanced around. "_Might as well get hit by a bus too._" He thought as he mentally watched a bus run him over. He shook his head to clear the image from his mind and decided to just leave. It would be for the best anyways.

Without another glance back, Chris made his way outside where he unexpectedly ran into the hot curator lady. She was currently off duty, smoking a cigarette with her long brunette hair flowing freely out of the confines of its up do. "Oh its you." She smiled at him as she took a puff from her cigarette. "Where's your girlfriend?" She asked politely.

"Me?" Chris pointed to himself as he looked around. "Um, I don't have a girlfriend." He stated.

"You mean to say that cute brunette in there isn't your girlfriend? Wow, you certainly fooled me in there with your inspirational pep talk of yours."

"Yeah, fooled myself too." Chris smirked as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Um sorry to ask, but can I bum one off of you?" He was certainly craving for a cigarette right now and thanks to Jill, he had none to light up.

"Are you sure you're old enough to be smoking?" She asked as she reached into her purse and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

"As long as you think I am." He smiled as he accepted the stick she offered him. He took out his lighter and lit it up, savoring the nicotine he inhaled deeply.

"I'm Rina." She introduced herself.

"Chris." He said as he exhaled a puff of smoke.

"Chris, nice to meet…" She said, but was suddenly cut off by her phone ringing. "Hold on." She told Chris and turned away to answer it. "_Where are you? What? Damn it, Ing, I told you to leave early! Whatever, I'll check with Debra._" She said and hung up her phone. "Damn." She turned to face Chris.

"What's up?" Chris asked.

"My sister is stuck in traffic and can't get me. Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have let her borrow my car. Now I have find my coworker before she leaves." She said as she disposed of her cigarette in the ashtray.

"I can drop you off if you want." Chris offered. "But that's my ride." He pointed to his bike.

"I'm wearing a skirt and high heels, hot shot." She stated.

Chris chuckled. "I doubt anyone would look up your skirt." He said as he took a drag and blew the smoke up in the air.

"You've got a smutty mind." She smiled at him.

"And behind that professional demeanor, I bet you have one too." He smiled in return. "So what do you say? Consider it as payment for the cigarette."

"Well, I guess so. I don't live that far from here anyways." She took him up on his offer.

**----**

"What the hell are you doing?" Jill said after managing to break away from him.

"I missed you baby." Scott said as he brushed the stray hairs away from her face.

"What? You know you should've thought about that before you decided to stand me up! And what is that smell? Another product you're going to model for?!" Jill noted the different scent from earlier in the day. Scott sniffed his shirt and silently cursed to himself.

"Yes. Jill, honey, really I have so many jobs lined up right now, its insane!" He said.

"Yeah, but I doubt people would be able to smell the fragrance through the picture!" She stated. "How did you know I was here anyways?" She asked as she glanced around looking for Chris.

"I called your house. Desmond said you were here…but I didn't know you were with somebody." He furrowed his brow as he glanced to where Chris was at earlier.

"You canceled on me after I got to the place you wanted me to meet you! It wasn't my fault a friend came and offered to accompany me!" Jill was really upset with him.

"I'm sorry baby." He said as he tried to hold her in his embrace.

"Ugh, don't _baby_ me." She said as she struggled in his grasp. "I don't want to talk to you right now." She said as she proceeded to the exit.

"Aw, you can't stay mad at me forever." He gave her puppy dog eyes and smiled at her.

"It's not going to work." She stated firmly as she emerged from the gallery only to see the hot curator lady on the back of Chris's bike, holding him around his waist with one hand as she draped her purse behind her with the other hand. Chris took a quick glance back and saw Jill emerge with Scott right behind her. He didn't acknowledge her as he turned his attention back to the road. It wasn't because he was angry with her; he had no right to be. It just pained him every time he sees her and Scott together. Rina glanced back as well and winked at Jill as Chris drove off. Neither she nor Chris was wearing the helmet. He had placed it over the gas tank as he rode off. Jill felt a pang of jealousy as she watched the gorgeous curator in her high heels ride off on Chris's bike. "Take me home Scott." She said in a somewhat disappointed tone.

"Anything you want, babe." He smiled as he led her to his car.

Jill felt bad on how the night ended. She really enjoyed Chris's company and didn't have the chance to really thank him. She would just have to thank him and apologize the next time she sees him. She hoped it would be soon too.

Upon entering Scott's car, she placed her bag on her lap as she took out a card from her back pocket. "_Christopher Larkin._" She read the fake I.D. she stole from him earlier. "_21, hah! Let's see you go crazy looking for this._" She smiled to herself as she placed the I.D. in one of the credit card slots of her wallet.

"What's so funny?" Scott asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Nothing that would interest you." She said and stared out the window, still feeling really upset with Scott.

**Bleh, I'm done with this chapter. Erm, since Rebecca was modeled after Ayumi Hamasaki, I made her half Japanese. I thought it would be fun…Yeah, her mom is Ayumi too…ahahaha…Anyhoo, if you decided to skip the note in the beginning, then you wouldn't know this is the LAST chapter. So REVIEW if you want me to continue. I'm out…**


	5. Shameless

**Sorry, I've been absent for a while, but I'll get back in. And okay, so I'm a liar, ahhaha…I just don't like leaving things unfinished…sort of like T.V. shows that have potential but get cut off prematurely. That really pisses me off! Eh, anyhoo I'm probably not going to spit out chapters as fast as other people, but don't worry, I'll get it done •(ˆoˆ)• Oh and if you all noticed, I deleted **_**The Brilliant**__**Dance.**_** I'll repost it when I feel motivated to update it and edit it…I had something in mind and then when RE5 came out, it sort of messed me up like whoa, so oh my digits, I had to take it down…Okay lets move on! No wait, thank you all so much for your support! Reviewers and nonreviewers (is that a word? eh) alike, I still like you all! ^__^  
**

**Chapter 5: **Shameless

For the remainder of the ride home, Jill sat in silence. She didn't feel like going home, but she didn't feel like staying with Scott either. "Did you eat yet? Are you hungry?" Scott asked in order to break the silence.

"What?" Jill asked, her thoughts obviously elsewhere.

"Are you hung…"

"No, just take me home please." She immediately cut him off once she knew what he was going to say.

"What's with you tonight?" He asked as he gently brushed her hair behind her ear.

"_What's with me tonight?!_" She had the urge to scream and spew out everything that bothered her that evening but decided against it. "I really need to get started on my paper. Its due on Monday." She said flatly. She knew by him asking that, he was trying to coax out what had happened in the gallery between her and Chris, but she wasn't going to let him have it.

"Are you sure that's it? You seem really on edge today?" Scott persisted.

She glared at him and then smiled tiredly. "Stressed out, that's all." She tried hard to retain her tired smile.

Scott scoffed, obviously irritated with her reluctance to speak. "So you're honestly not going to tell me what happened between you and that guy in the gallery?" He decided to bring it up since Jill was avoiding it.

"I knew it was about that!" Jill suddenly blurted out.

"What?!" Scott yelled back.

"You kept questioning me in hopes that _I_ would be the one to bring it up! I mean, did you _see_ anything happen?" She said in a somewhat sarcastic tone.

"He was holding you pretty damn close Jill!" Scott raised his voice as he gripped the steering wheel tightly.

"I tripped and he caught me!" She raised her voice as well. "Honestly Scott, what do you take me for? Do you think I would actually cheat on you?" Jill was very upset. "_And _with someone I just met?! Come on!" She clapped her hand on her thigh out of annoyance.

"I don't know Jill, are you? Just look at you! I know every guy wants to be with you." He said as he finally pulled up in front of her house. For a long time, he wanted to say that to her whenever they had an argument but only now, it was able to come out.

"_You insecure son of a bitch_." Jill had the urge to tell him, but decided against it. Instead she opted to make him feel bad, rather than make him angry. "And you should be so lucky that I'm with you. That I _chose _you, and that I _love _you." She said and immediately got out of the car feeling really disgusted with him.

"Jill!" He called as she slammed the door and proceeded down the walkway. He suddenly regretted everything. Feeling really bad, he immediately got out of his car and ran after her. "Jill!" He yelled, but she continued to ignore him. "I'm sorry." He caught hold of her arm, preventing her from continuing down the walkway. She grunted in response and shook her arm in order to get out of his grasp, but to no avail. "I made a mistake and I'm sorry. I'm only human, and of course I'll get jealous if I see my girl in another man's arms." Jill said nothing but he could see her clenching her teeth in anger. "Come on Jill, just say something. This is going to be on your mind the whole night and you won't be able to concentrate on your assignment." For once he was right. She took a deep breath and stared at him. How could she not forgive him? He was honest with her and always admitted when he was wrong.

"Don't you _ever_ say that to me _again_." She said sternly as she tiptoed and kissed him deeply, yet briefly. It was a gesture to let him know that she loved him, but was still mad at him.

"Don't work too hard." He smiled at her before he returned to his car. Jill continued down the walkway and towards her house. It was a pretty big place compared to an average sized house. Some would even consider it to be a mini-mansion, but Jill couldn't care less of the size. She hated going home to an empty house, which was quite often. She was just about to dig in her bag for her keys, but before she could even reach the door, it opened right before her. She shook her head slightly as she came face to face with a man in his mid to late thirties. He had short dark hair and was wearing designer jeans with a neatly pressed dress shirt.

"You didn't have to open the door for me Desmond, I told you that so many times before." She said as he took her jacket and hung it in the closet. "Is my dad back yet?" She asked, although she already knew the answer, considering Desmond's presence.

"I'm afraid he wont be home anytime soon. He had to fly off suddenly. He'll be back by Thursday though." He gave her a reassuring smile. Whenever her father was out on a job, Desmond was always there. He practically raised her whenever her father was out of the country, which was most of the time. Dick Valentine was a very busy man of course. If he wasn't running his shipping company, he was almost always out on a heist. Jill always wondered why he continued on thieving, even though he had a very prominent business establishment. It couldn't have been for money, so she figured he was just bored and needed some sort of excitement. Whatever the reason was, it certainly took his time away from her and broke their family apart.

"Thursday, huh?" Jill said flatly as she kicked off her shoes and wandered into the foyer. "What's he stealing this time?" She said as she paused in front of the stairs to wait for Desmond's reply.

"He's not out on a job." Desmond said.

"Oh really?" Jill raised an eyebrow as she glanced back at him. "I know what he does Des, you don't have to lie to me."

"Personal reasons. That's all he said."

Jill turned around and walked up to Desmond. She eyed him sternly, as if he was hiding something from her. "He _never_ flies off for _personal_ reasons." She held her gaze, but he didn't budge. "Where is he, really?"

"I can't object with his wishes, _Miss Valentine_. Dinner is on the table if you're hungry." Desmond said, almost as if he were a robot, and walked away. Jill clenched her teeth at his backside, before retreating upstairs. She hated Desmond at times but she had to admit that he was always there when her father wasn't. At 16, she didn't think it was necessary for him to continue watching over her, but her father insisted. She soon understood why after she overheard her father during a private conversation with Desmond about enemies and protecting his daughter.

Once upstairs and inside her room, Jill heaved a heavy sigh as she locked the door behind her. She glanced around and took in the surroundings. She never asked for anything and yet, she was showered with everything a princess ought to be showered with. She hated her dad for doing it, as she was fine with just the bedroom necessities, but she figured it was his way of making it up to her. As much as she appreciated it, it only reminded her of the many broken promises her father made.

"Stupid." Jill muttered under her breath as she walked up to her bed and crashed face first onto it. She then rolled over and stared at the ceiling, her mind racing with a list of things to do, with such little time. She then sat up and dug in her bag, her notes from the gallery falling out. She smiled as she picked it up. _Six Feet Under the Stars_, the title of the painting she and Chris were lying under, the one she decided to do her report on. On a normal circumstance, she would not be excited to get started on this report, but she had a very good idea of what she was going to do and couldn't wait to get started. She got up from her bed, grabbed her laptop from the desk and proceeded to the balcony. For some reason, she just felt right doing the assignment out in the open and under the beautiful starry night.

**----**

"Thanks for dropping me home, Chris." Rina said as Chris held out a hand to help her off the bike.

"No problem." He smiled at her as she straightened out her skirt. He placed his hands back on the handles and prepared to leave.

"Going home now?" She asked as she held her purse behind her with both hands.

"Actually," He chuckled slightly, "I'm not sure."

"Why's that?" She asked with a tilt of her head.

"It's complicated." He said with a deep sigh and stared at the road ahead of him, debating whether or not he should start his trip back to New York.

"Well, I have all night." She smiled at him. "Would you like to come up for something to eat?"

Was her invitation some form of innuendo? Chris thought about it before taking her up on her offer. "_What the hell._" He thought, "_If she actually wants to feed me, then fine…if she wants to screw me, so be it_._ Either way, I won't leave empty handed._" He smiled at her as he finally came to a decision.

"So what's it going to be?" She asked, as she started to make her way up the stairs and towards the front door.

"I appreciate the offer but I wouldn't want you to go through all that trouble." Chris turned down the offer.

Rina started to laugh, causing Chris to stare at her. "I'm offering you a meal Chris, nothing more!" She laughed even harder at the thought.

"No, I know." Chris said as he sat up straight, feeling a bit embarrassed for his assumptions.

She then eyed him closely, as if trying to figure him out. "You're running away from home, huh? That's why you don't want to go home." She smirked.

Chris sighed as he shook his head. "Whatever."

Rina let out a hearty laugh once again. "I may not be a guy, but I was 17 once."

"Oh, so you're not 17 now?" Chris joked.

"Funny." She said as she turned her attention back to the door and stuck the key inside. "I know we just met, but I think I know you." She was a bit serious. "If you need a place to stay, you're welcome to get your bearings straight here." She said as she opened the door. "Just don't abuse it." She turned to him and smiled. Without another word, she proceeded inside, leaving the door open for him. Chris watched as she disappeared from the doorframe, contemplating on her offer. He then decided that it would be a good idea if he thought about his ride to New York a day more. He shifted his bike into gear and moved it closer to the curb before shutting off the engine and proceeding inside. "I knew you couldn't resist my charms." Rina teased as she made her way across the living room.

"Well, you know." Chris said as he entered with caution and stood in the living room feeling slightly at odds.

"Just make yourself comfortable. I'm gonna get changed first." She said as she disappeared behind a door.

"Yeah, thanks." Chris said as he took in the sights. Rina's apartment wasn't big, but it wasn't small either. It was the type of apartment that reminded Chris of sitcoms that often took place in apartments. It seemed like a very cozy place. It was fully furnished with the necessities, but Chris thought it could use more color or a few more pieces of furniture here and there and probably a plant somewhere too. He then made his way to the pictures hanging on the wall. There wasn't much, but each picture looked as though it deserved to be displayed. The pictures were of her family and close friends, none he recognized except for one. It looked fairly recent too. He took it off the wall and observed it carefully. The picture was of Rina and another girl that looked exactly like her, except a bit younger. "_I've seen this girl before._" Chris thought. "_And not just once._" He continued to stare at the picture when suddenly the front door burst open.

"Sissy!" A girl yelled as she closed the front door. Chris jumped slightly out of surprise and he quickly sprang out of view. He didn't know why he chose to hide since he had permission to be there. He felt stupid, but he felt it would be too late now to just come out, so he waited in the shadows.

"Rina!" She called again as she wandered into the kitchen to get a drink in the fridge. "I know you're home. The lights are all on."

"Ing? Is that you?" Rina said as she stuck her head out behind the door.

"I just came to return your car. I'm really, really sorry! It was all Ada's fault! She saw someone and told me to follow him. Then we got caught in traffic. I'm so sorry!" She apologized.

"It's alright." Rina said as she casually glanced around her apartment looking for Chris. "Let me finish getting dressed and I'll be right out."

"Okay." Ingrid said as she plopped down on the sofa and turned on the T.V. Chris sighed from behind the wall. He had a feeling he was going to be in the shadows all night. "How'd you get home?" Ingrid yelled, hoping her sister would hear her.

"Uh, a friend dropped me." Rina said as she emerged from her room. She looked around yet again, but Chris was nowhere to be found. "Was someone here when you came in?" Rina asked as she plopped down on the sofa next to her sister.

"Nope. Place was empty, why?"

"Nothing." Rina said as she glanced back yet again.

"Okay, well…" Ingrid said as she got up from the sofa. "Now that I dropped your car off and explained myself, I'm gonna go home now. I'll see you later sissy."

"How are you getting home?" Rina asked.

"Ada is waiting for me outside." Ingrid said as she paused in front of the door.

"Okay. Be safe." Rina said.

"Will do. Bye bye." Ingrid said and bolted out the door as quickly as she came in. Rina then walked over the door and peeked outside, watching as her sister hopped into Ada's car. Satisfied that her sister would get home safely, she bolted the door and proceeded to the kitchen.

"Chris?" She called as she opened her fridge and brought out some instant meals.

"Yep?" He came out from where he was.

"Were you hiding?" She had the urge to laugh out loud but refrained from doing so. Chris certainly had a lot of character in him.

"Um…nope." He said as he placed the picture back on the wall.

"Is everything okay? You look confused." She asked as she placed the food contents into the microwave.

"I'm not sure." He said as he looked back at the door, fearing it would suddenly open again. "That girl who came, she was your sister?" Rina nodded. "She's the same girl in the picture, yeah." She nodded yet again, wondering where Chris was getting at.

"Do you know her?" Rina asked as she took out two cans of Sprite.

Chris didn't reply. He just stood there thinking. "_Ada_." He remembered her mentioning that name. Then, it suddenly dawned on him. Ada, Alyssa, Ingrid and Jill. They were all friends at Brentwood Academy. "Yeah, yeah I do know her. And I'm actually glad that stayed out of view too."

"Why's that?" Rina asked the microwave finally _dinged_. She walked over to it and removed the contents and placed it on the table. As she took a seat, she signaled Chris to join her.

"Your sister has some _notorious_ friends, so to speak." Chris said as he took a seat across her. "If she saw me here with you, Alyssa would more than likely find out and she'd have a cow."

"Is she your girlfriend?" She asked as she began eating her meal.

"More like my stalker. Seriously, I just moved here not too long ago, and she's all over me like flies on food."

Rina couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Well, you _are_ very good-looking, in a rugged sort of way. Not to mention you're fresh meat, _so to speak_, so she's naturally going to flock over you."

"I guess." Chris shrugged and continued to eat.

"So, I'm curious." Rina said in between bites. "What's your relation to that girl you just ditched at the gallery."

"Nothing." Chris said as he swallowed whatever he had in his mouth. "Your sister has more of a _relation_ with her than I do. I just happened to bump into her that's all." Chris said as he opened the can of Sprite and washed his throat down.

Rina let out a sigh. "I knew she looked familiar. I just came back from college abroad a couple of months ago, so I don't know my sister's friends that well yet. Hmm, I wonder if she knew who I was?" She whispered quietly. There was a brief silence between them as Chris finished his meal, hoping that the topic of Jill would not go beyond. "You like her." Chris didn't say anything. Instead he scoffed and began chuckling as he shook his head. "Its okay, you don't have to say anything. Your actions in the gallery said it all. I watched you two in the camera at the gallery." Chris stopped laughing and just stared at her in shock. She smiled as she got up and began clearing the table. Chris continued to sit there and take in everything she said. She wanted to laugh at him but she refrained from doing so. "Oh cheer up. I wont tell." She said as she ruffled his hair like a big sister would then made her way to her bedroom door.

"I don't know how long it will take you to find yourself, but you can stay as long as you like…I've always wanted a roommate." She smiled at him before entering her bedroom and retiring for the night.

**--Wednesday--**

A couple of days passed and Chris was surprised to see that he stayed at Rina's as long as he did. He planned on starting his trip the very next day, but Rina managed to hold him back until Sunday turned into Monday and so on. He had a sneaky feeling that she was playing a part in keeping him from running away, though he wasn't sure why she would do such a thing. They barely knew each other after all.

"Going to school today?" Rina asked, as she emerged from her room, ready to go to work.

"Um, no." Chris said as he sat on the couch, feeling bad for mooching off of her. It wasn't his initial plan. If he had money, he would give it up in a heartbeat, but since he didn't have any to give, he repaid her by doing tremendous amounts of housework, which she really appreciated.

"Did you call your parents yet?" She asked.

"Nope." Chris said as he turned on the T.V. and began flipping through the channels.

"You should at least let them know you're okay." Rina said as she stopped in front of a mirror to fix her earrings.

"Naw, it's their fault I'm in this situation." Chris said as he stopped at a channel currently showing _Samurai Pizza Cats. _

"You're very vindictive." Rina said as she slipped on her high heels then straightened out her outfit.

"You look good." Chris preferred to comment on her outfit rather than on her opinion of him.

"Thank you." She said as she walked up to the door. "Okay, I'll see you later then." Rina said before closing the door on her way out.

"Yeah." Chris said, as his eyes remained glued to the T.V. screen. "Or not." He whispered to himself. He figured he stayed long enough and didn't want to burden her any longer, although she continued to deny it. He wasn't about to return home, so he decided now would be a good time to go back to New York.

After the television program had finished, Chris shut off the T.V. and got dressed. As he walked into the kitchen to grab something to drink, he saw a note along with a twenty-dollar bill on the counter. He ignored the money and reached for the note. "_Here's some money. Get something to eat if you head out._" He quickly read the note, then glanced on the counter, debating whether or not he should take it. "Oh what the hell." He said as he pocketed the bill and grabbed his things before heading out. "Gas money." He whispered to himself as he shut the door behind him and stared at his lonely bike near the sidewalk. "Let's see how far this will take me." Chris said, knowing that twenty bucks wasn't enough to get him to his desired destination, but he couldn't care less. As he made his way down the stairs and towards his bike, he glanced to the left as he took a deep breath of fresh air. "What the…" He said as he saw four sports bike fly by on the main street. "_Café riders._" Chris thought. He immediately got on his bike and decided to follow them.

Since he didn't know them, he kept his distance and just pretended he was going in the same direction they were. The next stoplight turned red. This would be his opportunity to catch up with them and probably make friends with them. He could definitely use some rider friends in this town. As he approached them, he noticed that some of them began to look back as they heard his engine downshift. One of them nodded at him as he came to a complete stop. He took this chance to get a good look at their bikes. "_New York_ _plates?_" Chris thought as he saw the one closest to him. He then looked at the others. They all came from the same place. He then looked at the bikes and their riders. "No way!" Chris said as he kicked down the stand of his bike and got off. With his helmet still on, he approached one of the riders and slapped the back of his helmet. The guy immediately picked up his head, ready to strike Chris where he stood.

"Holy shit!" The guy said as he lifted his visor. The three other guys lifted their visors as well.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Chris asked.

"Later." The guy in the front said as he pointed to the streetlight that just turned green.

"Shit." Chris said as he quickly hopped on his bike and followed them. He couldn't stop smiling under his helmet. Who would have thought his rider friends from New York would come all the way out here. It was strange, but Chris was happy nonetheless. As he followed from behind, he saw his friend up front signal him to come up. Chris pulled to the side and met up with him.

"I'm hungry!" He yelled. Chris just nodded and decided to lead them to Grill 13 since everyone was still at school.

Upon arriving at Grill 13, the boys seemed to catch everyone's attention. Not many people had bikes like Chris does so to see five bunched together, it was definitely an eye catcher.

"Dude, what's with all the staring?" Phil whispered as he hung his helmet on his mirror.

"It's cause you're so _good_ looking." Chris said sarcastically as he hooked his helmet underneath the passenger's seat.

**--Rina's Apartment--**

"So…you're currently staying with this chick?" Phil asked as he looked around the apartment. Chris didn't plan on housing them there during their visit. He just brought them there to kick back since school was out. He didn't want to run into anyone he knew at the moment.

"Yep." Chris said as he leaned against the wall. "Surprising isn't it?"

"Yeah, especially someone like you. This town really changed you." Jeff said.

"I think it was for the better though." Eric said. "You were always the quiet one."

"What do you expect, he's the _puppy_." Roy teased.

"Shut up." Chris said. He hated being called that and back home, they often teased him.

"I guess some things wont change." Jeff said as he got up from the couch. "Well Chris, it's getting late and we better head out before the lady of the house gets back."

"Too late." Phil said as he heard the door open and shut. Rina walked into the living room with a surprised look on her face.

"Hello." She said, feeling rather unsure of herself. She took a quick glance at Chris, her eyes silently asking him what the hell was going on. "Friends of yours?" She asked as she placed her keys on the table.

"Yeah, sorry. These are my friends from New York. That's Damien, but we call him Jeff…"

"Why?" Rina interrupted.

"It's a long story." Jeff said as he tilted his head and shrugged.

"And that's Roy, Eric and Phil. They were just leaving so yeah." Chris apologized.

"Yeah, we were. I'm sorry for the intrusion." Jeff said as he walked towards the door.

"So where you guys staying at?" Chris asked as he followed them to the door, with Rina peeking over his shoulder.

"Don't know, probably at the first hotel, motel, whatever we stumble across." Roy said.

"Nonsense!" Rina butted in suddenly. "If you guys are only staying for a couple of days, there's no sense in wasting money at a hotel. You can hang out here, just as long as you clean up after yourselves." She smiled as she tried to contain herself in front of all the rugged and handsomeness around her.

"What?!" Chris grabbed her and turned her away from them. "_What are you doing?!" _He whispered to her.

"_Okay, your friends are hot and I'm not going to lie and say I'm not totally into Damien._" Rina whispered back.

"_Jeff? You're kidding right!_" He whispered back.

"_He's about my age yeah?_" She whispered.

"_How old are you?_" Chris was curious. When she glared at him, he knew to back down. "_He's twenty-four._"

"_Perfect._" She smiled as she turned to face the guys. "So what do you boys say?" Rina asked before Chris had any time to say anything else.

"_This is going to be a disaster._" Chris thought as his friends looked towards him for approval.

"Well, if you don't mind having us, then we'd be glad to stay." Jeff said.

"Then it's settled." Rina smiled as she winked at him, with her own agenda in mind.

"Hmm, this could get interesting." Jeff thought as he smiled at her in return.

**--Thursday, after school--**

It was finally Thursday, the day that Jill had been waiting for all week. She couldn't wait to see her dad. On a normal _business_ trip, she wouldn't care if he was gone for a while, but since she hasn't seen him for almost two months, she was beginning to feel lonely. She had no mother, her father was rarely home and Desmond was well, Desmond. She hated it. So when school let out, Jill couldn't wait to get home to see her dad and get some answers. As soon as the bell rang to dismiss the students, Jill quickly sprang out of her seat and headed straight to her locking while avoiding some students that wanted to engage in idle small talk with her.

"Going to the diner?" Ada asked as she approached Jill from behind.

"Erm, not today." Jill said as she took a quick glance back at Ada and then continued to rummage in her locker.

"Plans with the boyfriend?" Ada leaned on the locker as she watched Jill pull out some books and placed others in.

"Nope." Jill said without glancing at Ada. "He's probably 'working' again." Jill let out an irritated sigh, much to her dismay.

"Trouble in paradise?" Ada asked as she continued to watch Jill. She noted her annoyance as she tossed up her locker. "World History, not Calculus." Ada added as she saw Jill take the wrong books.

"Huh?" Jill asked as she took a glance at her books. "Shit." Jill said as she briefly rubbed her forehead and then corrected her mistake. "Thanks."

"What's going on Jill?" Ada asked as she eyed her friend intently.

"Nothing." Jill flashed her a superficial smile as she shut her locker door.

"Jill, _honey_, its not like you to get trivial matters mixed up no matter how stressed out you are and you can't fool me with that fake smile of yours. Seriously, what's _really_ going on?"

Jill looked at Ada with such intensity, as if she were trying to read mind. Of course, she was no mind reader but she had this gut feeling that Ada was hiding something from her and she was only dropping subtle hints in order for Jill to reveal something before she dropped the bigger picture.

"Do you know something that I don't?" Jill asked as she made her way down the hall.

Ada eyed her immediately. "_So she doesn't know._" She thought. "_Well, no use telling her since it's probably just a mistake._" Ada shook her thoughts and smiled at her. "What? No, I was merely asking if something was bothering you, but clearly, you're just stressed out so I'm just going to leave you to your own devices. We'll all be at the diner if you need anything. Don't work to hard." She kissed her friend on the cheek and quickly made her way out of there before Jill had time to respond, let alone comprehend.

"And I thought I had problems." Jill said to herself as she made her way out of the school campus.

Upon reaching the sidewalk she cursed to herself that she would have to walk the long distance home. Desmond was usually there to pick her up when she opted not to hang out at the diner after school, but today he had to pick up her father. She couldn't wait to see him. Not only did she miss seeing her father, but she also had a lot of questions to ask and hopefully he would give her a straight answer instead of giving her some sort of present to distract her. Jill sighed then went the opposite direction Ada had run off to and headed towards home. As she walked down the sidewalk, many thoughts ran through her head that she didn't even know where to begin. From schoolwork to personal problems, Scott was her first priority. She felt ashamed for ranking her boyfriend troubles before her family situation but they were currently treading in rough waters. The thing is Jill felt as though she was treading the waters alone. As strange as that sounded to her, she knew that something was off between them, but Scott usually played it off as cool. "_Until now._" She thought. She knew that if she didn't address it sooner, she would probably go nuts, end up heartbroken and incapable of loving in the long run. "_Perhaps I'm being a bit too _dramatic." She smiled as she thought about it. And then there's Chris. She didn't have a problem with him. It was just a matter of thanking him for his help. She wanted to do it even before the assignment was due, but she didn't see him since that day. "_I should apologize too_." She thought as she recalled their abrupt goodbyes. "_It was as though he didn't know me. What's up with that?_" She would probably never know too. That guy was extremely hard to decipher but she found him interesting nonetheless. Lately, however, he was nowhere to be found. She found out yesterday at the diner when she overheard Joseph and some of the guys from Raccoon City High mention something about him missing school the whole week. Joseph even mentioned something about him not being home since Saturday evening. It somewhat worried her that she was the last person to see him, though she decided to keep that to herself considering Alyssa's so-called 'involvement' with him and the ugly 'J' word that wouldn't be too far behind. She scoffed at that idea as she continued down the sidewalk. "_I hope he's okay though_." She thought.

And then there was her father. She had opted to put him on the bottom of her priority list only because it wasn't something she could deal with right away, unlike confronting or thanking someone. The problems with her father were not something she could straighten out with the snap of her fingers. She needed time to sort it out but before she could do that, there were some questions that needed answers. Question about her mother mainly. That subject was quite touchy with her father and he would only give her information that barely scratched the surface; that she was beautiful and Jill looked like her. Hell, she didn't even know if she was dead or alive. Her father just said that she was gone. To heaven or to another country, he never specified and she hated not knowing. It was her _own_ mother after all, why should she be denied the information. It seemed to drive her crazy, but she learned to live with it…only because her father was hardly home to interrogate. "_I have no mom and my dad is practically my roommate, ridiculous._" It was then that Jill remembered why she held on to Scott. He was there to love her when she felt nobody did. Despite all the treasures her father had given her and all the friends she had, she still felt lonely and Scott filled that void. Perhaps that's why she never really brought up the things that bothered her most whenever they had an argument. She feared that she could lose him and she wouldn't be strong enough to handle it. But of course nobody knew that, not even her closest friends. She didn't want to be perceived as weak and emotional like most teenage girls so she initially put up a façade, which seemed to work quite well and caused her to be the envy of most girls, though she was completely unaware of it.

"_I'm tired of being kept in the dark. I need answers._" Jill thought as she stopped at a crosswalk and pressed the button. "_Perhaps if I cook something for him as a surprise, he'll give me some information_." She smiled as the light signaled her to cross the street. "_So it's decided. I'll stop by the grocery store and pick up a few things_." She smiled as she made her way down the sidewalk.

**----**

As the supermarket finally came into view a couple of blocks down, she noticed a bunch of people gathered at the parking lot next to the arcade right across the street. As she neared the place, she noticed four to five sports bikes lined up, each with a person sitting on it. As she got closer and was about to enter the supermarket, she spotted Chris among them and immediately diverted her direction across the street.

"Chris!" She called out upon seeing him. She was excited to see him, though she contained it quite well. He immediately looked up, but didn't acknowledge her. Jill was a bit hesitant as she approached him, but continued on, despite the stares she received from his companions. "I haven't seen you since Saturday night, is everything okay?" She asked.

Chris scoffed. "Why are you concerned with my well being?" He responded rather bluntly as he rested his hands on the gas tank a habit he often did when just sitting on his bike.

Jill was taken aback by his brash response, but decided to ignore it. "It's just…" She paused to clear her throat. She felt a bit uncomfortable as everyone stared at her and Chris didn't do anything to at least make her feel welcomed. "I overhead Joseph at the diner saying you haven't been going to school. I was worried…I guess...That maybe you just, left…"

"Oh yeah no. I'm sick." Chris said flatly and faked a cough here and there. His friends began laughing and shaking their heads at his sarcasm. "You are aware the flu is going around, right?" Chris said as he added another fake cough. Jill scrunched her eyebrows and eyed him curiously. If she didn't spend time and get to know him at the gallery, she would've sworn the guy before her was his evil twin or something. He was completely different from Saturday night, that she didn't even know how to approach him.

"Yeah, but I heard they created an _oinkment_." She decided to joke, causing all of his friends to burst out laughing. Chris fought so hard to contain himself and seeing her giggling with them did nothing for him.

"Wow, that was a good one!" Jeff commented. Chris was glad that her attention was averted towards him. It gave him the time to recompose himself.

"Well, I try." She smiled. The tension she felt among them began to ease up and she felt a little more comfortable being around them. It was certainly a good icebreaker.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Jill." She introduced herself.

"Jill." He smiled at her while nodding. "I'm Jeff, that's Eric, Phil, Roy and you already know that idiot over there." He introduced them as Chris failed to do so.

"That I do." She said while trying to stifle a giggle. "Well," She paused and smiled at Chris, as though she had a surprise in store for him. Seeing her smile made his heart tingle and ache for her even more. He wanted nothing more than to drop this 'act' of his and be that guy he was at the gallery, but an inner voice reminded him of Scott and how he could never have her. That was the truth and he knew it. He hated it, but he had to deal with it…deal with it anyway he knew how. His face remained stern, despite her soft expression, as he waited for her to continue. "Remember my report I had to do?" She asked, but when he said nothing and stared at her with a blank expression, she continued on with a smile still on her face. She didn't care that she had an audience or how giddy of a schoolgirl she sounded. She just wanted to share her success story with Chris and hopefully he would be happy for her since he was partly responsible for it. "I did my report on the forest painting and…" She paused. Chris could see the excitement building in her eyes. He had a good idea on how it was going to end, but fought the urge to finish her sentence. He knew if he did it, happiness would be short lived. She would be happy, he would be happy then she would leave, go to Scott, probably receive a kiss for her success, and well, he'd be pissed. He figured it was better to remain void of any obvious emotions. "…well, I got an _A_!" She squealed as she made a fist with both hands and brought it up to her chin to express her excitement. "I was the only one too! And it was all because of you!" She smiled. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Chris wanted nothing more than to revel with her in happiness. He felt his heart burst with contentment, yet his face looked as if he couldn't care less. It took a lot for him to retain his stoic appearance, but he managed it very well. His friends eyed him as well, wondering why he wasn't responding the way he should. Hell, all of his friends were even smiling at Jill, equally happy she had prevailed when others didn't. But her happiness was suddenly put on hold when she saw how Chris looked. She was about to say something, but when she saw him take a deep breath, she decided to wait a bit. "That's great." He finally said as he nodded at her then quickly turned to his friends. "So where's the ride to?" He started his bike as he asked his friends, who were equally confused as Jill was with his erratic behavior.

"What the hell?" Jill didn't realize she voiced her thoughts out loud. But since it was out, she might as well find out what was bothering him, because it was bothering her as well. "Is that all you have to say? What was the point of helping me if you were just going to react that way?" She shook her head as she let out a disappointed sigh.

Chris clenched his teeth as he got off of his bike. "Excuse me?" He said, almost startling her as he came face to face with her. "I wasn't under the impression you wanted me to jump up and down and cheer for you." He asked, somewhat frightening her, but she felt she had the courage to stand up to him.

"I don't think I ever _gave _that _impression._" Jill said as she thought about how they got into that situation in the first place. She felt like yelling in response, but decided against it. "And how am I suddenly at fault here? You know, I just came here to thank you. The least you could've done was _pretend_ to be happy for me." Jill said.

"You know, maybe you're right…but I don't pretend and I didn't need your thanks. I apologize if you misunderstood." Chris said flatly.

Jill scoffed as she shook her head. She was in shock he would even say such a thing. "Misunderstood?" Jill just about lost it with him. "My god, you're such an inconsiderate son of bitch. I thought you were different from the rest of the guys, but no. You are just about the worst human being I have ever met, and I _just_ met you." Jill said. Chris felt his head flare. He was angry with himself for having cause this whole dispute, but he was even more angry with her, though he wasn't sure why. Perhaps the jealously he harbored towards Scott fueled his current animosity towards her. "You're a real work of _art_ you know that? _Really! _It's a _wonder_ why everyone hates you." She said sarcastically. "Chris _Larkin_, he who whines about the world…" She scoffed as she rolled her eyes. "…pathetic." Jill turned and walked away.

Then, without so much as a warning, Chris lashed out his arm and captured her by the waist, dragging her to him before she was out of arms reach. The air left her lungs in a painful rush and before she knew it, his lips were on hers. There was nothing tentative in the kiss. His hard mouth demanded response; stealing what little breath she had left. Fear knotted her stomach as she felt her body betray her. Suddenly she was responding to him, pressing closer to his lean body, her lips softening under his. Shooting stars flashed in brilliant profusion before her eyes, and her head was reeling, but even so, she was still aware of the chatter among them. Her legs felt like jelly and she clutched desperately at his jacket in order to keep herself from collapsing in a heap at his feet. When he finally pulled away, she fought to regain her balance while she stared open-mouthed, trying to decide whether to shriek in protest or to strike him. She opted for the latter and felt a strange satisfaction as her hand connected sharply with his jaw. Chris wasn't disturbed at all. There was a mischievous twinkle in his eye as he smirked at her. He then let out a hearty laugh and without a word to her or his friends, he got on his bike and rode off.

Jill was extremely confused. Where the hell did that come from when she didn't do anything suggestive? As she stood there and watched as his friends rode off to follow him, each of them looked at her with a sympathetic, yet confused expression of their own. Some even shrugged at her or nodded their head that they didn't know Chris was going to pull that kind of stunt on her. Jill scrunched her eyebrows as she watched them disappear from the horizon. She was extremely angry with him because he had left her in a heap of mess; sort of like a lovesick schoolgirl who stared at her crush as he passed by without so much as noticing her. She had lost the bout when she thought she won. She felt vulnerable when she wasn't supposed to be and she hated it, hated it because she like it.

"This isn't good." Jill said a worried expression was plastered over her delicate face.

**----**

"Pull over!" Jeff managed to yell at Chris while the four of them tailed him. "Damn it Chris! Pull the hell over!" Chris sighed. There was no use in trying to outrun them, as they were more experienced riders than he was. They were the ones who got him riding in the first place. He downshifted and pulled in at the nearest parking lot and shut off his engine. "What's going on?" Jeff asked as he shut of his engine and pulled off his helmet. Chris shook his head and shrugged before taking off his helmet.

"Seriously Chris, we can be fucked up, but what _you_ did to her…man, that was _fucked_ up." Eric said as he took of his helmet as well. His friends were a bunch of jokers, but even they knew there was a line that shouldn't be crossed.

"Yeah man, she's sweet. She didn't deserve that." Roy said as Phil nodded in agreement. Sure, Chris's NY friends were a bit rough around the edges, but they knew how to respect a lady, especially one who respects herself and what Chris did was totally uncalled for.

"Alright!" Chris yelled out of frustration. "Alright, I get it. I'm an ass."

"Naw, you're a _fucking_ ass." Phil corrected. Chris stared at his friend, wanting nothing more than to strike him where he stood, but he knew better. Jeff could sense his temper flaring up and decided to step in between them.

"So what's up with you man? You move to a new place and you're a _new _person, or what?" Jeff asked.

Chris sighed. He didn't know who he was anymore. He was getting into fights, rebelling, cursing at his dad, running away and now stealing kisses, all in the span of two weeks. "I don't know. This place just…it freaking sucks man." Chris said as he ran both hands through his hair and rested them behind his neck.

"Naw, it can't be all bad. I mean, they have cute girls like Jill here, don't they?" Eric tried to cheer him up a bit.

"Yeah." Roy agreed. "Rina is…she's nice." Jeff quickly glanced at him then back at Chris.

"Can I hitch along with you guys back home?" Chris didn't feel like staying on the same page as them, so he tried to change the subject.

"Is it really so bad here that you're willing to run away?" Eric asked. Chris stared at him and then rubbed his forehead out of annoyance.

"Alright, here's the deal. If you give us a justifiable reason, we'll let you ride back with us." Jeff said.

"We'll even spot you gas money." Roy said.

Chris sighed in defeat. "I don't have one." He said. There was no point in trying to build an argument, as he already knew the outcome of it anyway. His friends were not stupid after all. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up. Everyone sat in silence watching Chris as he nervously smoked his cigarette. "I like her." Chris said suddenly as he blew out the smoke.

No one said a word for a good minute until Phil decided to break the silence. "Well, you really have a fucked up way of showing it." He said as he fiddled with his helmet.

"I know. I just made the biggest mistake of my life." Chris said as he took one last drag and dropped the cigarette butt and crushed it under his shoe. "She's just…I don't know. She _does_ something to me, that I don't know even know how to explain it. Its like I like her, but I don't want her to or…man, I don't know. Forget it."

"You're whipped." Phil laughed. "Just go back and tell her."

"It's not that easy." Chris said.

"Why not? Just tell her 'Jill, I like you. That's why I'm such an ass.'" Roy mocked while the others laughed.

"She has a boyfriend." Chris said.

"Damn." They all said simultaneously.

"Yeah well, after what I pulled, she probably won't ever talk to me again."

"C'est la vie." Eric paused and looked at Chris, contemplating whether or not he should tell him something that he noticed. "I wasn't going to say anything, but I guess I'll let you in on a little secret." He decided to tell him. "See, when you rushed off and we lagged behind, I noticed a little something."

"What?" Chris asked, curious of what Eric would say; if it would mean anything to him or not.

"Her pupils were dilated." He said confidently.

"Was she high?" Phil asked.

"You can say she was high…high on pleasure." Eric said.

"I'm not getting this." Chris said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Pupils usually dilate when someone is experiencing physical or psychological pleasure. If someone finds another person,_ or thing_, attractive, then the pupils dilate.

They also say its a sign of _sexual _interest, but…that's not always true."

"How do you know that?" Chris asked.

"Pre-med. I'm not just a thug on a bike you know." Eric said as he put on his helmet. He had a very good feeling that they were going to hit the road soon and he didn't want to lag behind just because of his helmet.

Roy began to chuckle as he processed everything. "Now, she either likes you or just thinks you're a good kisser."

"Okay wait, let's not jump to conclusions, because it might not be any of that. It could've just been a reaction to the kiss. Anyone can kiss anyone and not feel attracted to them so don't get your hopes up, alright?" Jeff said. He didn't want Chris to get his hopes up only to have it crash down on him like a 500-ton anvil.

"Thanks for your insight." Chris nodded as he stared off to space.

"One more thing…" Jeff paused as he stared at his friends. "Let's never do _this_ again. Save the girly talk for the girls, eh?" He finished as everyone nodded in agreement.

"Let's ride." Chris said as he put on his helmet, started up his bike and led the way out of the parking lot with a whole new view on things.

**Dang, I don't know what was up with this chapter. I finished it two months ago, but I kept changing little stuff…it was quite irritating…eh, well, I bleh…I need to start changing the direction…its getting too dramatic for my taste…but we'll see where it goes…anyhoo…I forgot to mention this before but if you don't already know, the title **_**Six Feet Under the Stars**_** is a song from All Time Low…I don't know, it sort of gave me inspiration after driving home around 2:30 a.m. after Relay for Life. I guess it was the beautiful starry night that got to me…eh…anyhoo, not sure when the next update will be, but I'll try to hurry! Thank you much, laters!**

•**(ˆoˆ)•**


	6. Splinters Out

**Chapter 6: Splinters Out**

**Okay so it took a while…okay, forever…whatever…at least I updated…eh… anyhoo, OH, I have a twitter (janeysg0tagun). Well I had it for a while…I just never logged on it…follow me if you want, though I don't twitter much, ahahah…I really need to finish this…bah…**

**-Thursday Evening-**

That very evening, Chris and his friends made their way back to Rina's apartment with food and drinks in tow. It was the least they could do since they were residing with her free of charge.

"Do you think she would mind all of this?" Eric asked as he placed the beers and sodas into her fridge.

"I don't think so. She seems all too excited to have you guys here. But then again, what do I know? I barely know her." Chris shrugged.

"I still wonder how the hell you go yourself into this predicament." Phil said.

"Hey, I wonder myself." Chris said.

"What did your dad and Abigail say about this?" Roy asked.

"I dunno. I never called them since I left."

"What? So you haven't spoken to them since Saturday?" Jeff was surprised. "Really Chris, I don't know what's happened to you. You need to call them and let them know you're okay."

"I guess." Chris said as he approached the fridge and took out a soda.

"_Anybody home?_" They heard Rina call out from the foyer as she entered her apartment.

"In here." Jeff called out, while everyone eyed him curiously. "What?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Nothing." Phil said and strolled to the fridge and grabbed a beer.

"Hey, what's going on?" Rina asked as she entered the kitchen area.

"We bought dinner and drinks." Roy said as he smiled at her.

"Think of it as a little going away party." Eric said.

"You guys leaving soon?" She smiled as she placed her purse on the counter.

"Two days tops." Jeff said and handed her a beer.

"Oh, and just when I was getting used to all this company." She said as she accepted it.

"And I thought you'd be glad." Chris said.

"Maybe when _you're_ gone. I feel like I've kidnapped someone after all." She joked.

"Touche." Chris said as he lifted his soda in a mock toast.

The rest of the night seemed to be going on well. Rina got along with the boys as if she had known them all her life. Chris smiled as they laughed and reminisced about their days of high school. It even made him think of Sarah and his high school days back home when he was most happy. Now here he was, in a new place where the whole town has practically stereotyped him as a delinquent and the most popular and beautiful girl, in his opinion of course -though he would most likely beat the crap out of anyone who thought otherwise- didn't even think twice about him. He forced out a smile as he sighed in frustration.

"What about you Jeff?" Rina continued to laugh from the previous stories she heard from the guys. "You have yet to share something from _your_ infamous high school days."

"Yeah!" Eric laughed. It was pretty obvious that he, Roy and Phil had one too many drinks.

"Yes, _Jeffy_, why don't you explain how we came to call you that!" Roy laughed.

"I am curious…How the hell did you get Jeff from Damien?" Rina asked as she took a swig from her bottle. "Personally, I think Damien is a much more, _sexier_ name." She eyed him and smiled in a purely seductive manner in which only he caught.

"Honestly, it isn't funny." Jeff said as he caught the twinkle in her eye.

"More like stupid." Chris said, gulping down his soda.

"Indulge me." She said.

"I'd rather not." Jeff said, hoping they would just forget about it and move on with other interesting topics before the night ended.

"Please." She persisted.

"If you insist…This crazy chick had a mad thing for me, I pretended I wasn't me but a twin…and well, you can kind of figure out how that eventually turned out."

"Do you have a twin?"

"I have sister." He said.

"Oh…" She smiled.

Roy started laughing. "You should have seen it! He kept forgetting which person he was supposed to be, and other people started to think that he had a twin."

"That's cause you got Hammond to make fake IDs!" Jeff said.

Eric shared in that laugh. "Get this, for one semester, he registered as both of them!" He laughed even harder.

"How was that even possible?" She asked, giggling amongst them.

"I don't know!" Jeff said. Now looking back at it, he began laughing. "I really don't know how that happened."

"Need I remind you that she ended up liking _'Jeff' _anyways." Chris scoffed as he shook his head at the failed plan to get said girl's affection away from Damien only to have her fall for his _identical _counterpart.

"So what happened?"

"Well…" Jeff said, not entirely liking where this was going. "You see…"

"He ended up going out with the girl…three, four months." Phil said.

"She actually wasn't as crazy as I thought her to be." Jeff tried to defend himself.

"She was just awkward…in that smart, pretty, airheaded, innocent kinda way." Eric said. "Damien, I'm sorry, _Jeff_ was actually the crazy one!"

"Shut the hell up!" Jeff said.

"Yeah!" Chris laughed hard. "He got all jealous and possessive and then he finally told her the truth of everything and she was stunned! She was out of his life faster than you can snap your fingers!"

"She got a restraining order." Roy laughed.

"I was young…I learned from that." Jeff said.

"We all did!" Eric laughed.

Rina tried hard to contain her laughing. That was perhaps the most absurd story she has ever heard. "Is this really true?"

"Cross my heart." Jeff said.

"And so they all continue to call you _Jeff_ to torment you?" She asked.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that." He said. "I've actually grown accustomed to it."

"Have you now?" She raised an eyebrow.

The guys and Rina continued talking and laughing until one by one, they knocked out. One moment Eric, Roy or Phil was in a conversation and the next, they were mumbling incoherently, as if they were still part of the conversation. "Do you have a marker?" Chris asked. Rina grabbed one off of the end table, knowing exactly where he was going with it. As soon as they finished, Rina set the camera on timer and captured this moment. It was something she definitely was not going to forget. "All right _kids_, I guess I'm gonna head home." Chris said as he got up.

"What?" Rina asked, surprised he would even mention it.

"I've over stayed my welcome and hanging out here and listening to your stories made me feel that I should get off my damn high horse and make my own memories to share."

"Aw, you sound so sentimental." Jeff said.

"Shut up." Chris said.

"Don't let this little punk fool you. Behind this 'cool' exterior of his, lies a whole lot of emotion." Jeff said.

"Stop, you're giving away my secrets." He said sarcastically as he gathered his things. "Rina, I can't thank you enough of what you done for me."

"Don't sweat it kid." She smiled.

"I owe you big time." Chris said as he grabbed his helmet and proceeded to the door.

"Oh I think you've done quite enough." She smiled. "Don't be a stranger. You're welcome here anytime."

"Thanks." Chris said as he stepped outside. "Goodnight."

"Night." Rina said, all to eager to shut the door, but Chris stopped her quite quickly, startling her to some extent.

"You two…play nicely while I'm gone." Chris winked, knowing how Rina had a strong attachment to Jeff. She smiled at him and then slowly closed the door behind her.

"You think he knows?" Jeff asked.

"He has no idea." She lied, grabbing him gently by the collar and bringing his lips to hers in a passionate embrace she longed for quite a while.

Chris shut off his bike at the sidewalk and stood in front of the driveway of his house. He hoped by doing so, no one would hear the approach of his bike and bombard him even before he got the chance to step into the house with his bearings on straight. He didn't think he would be standing in front of his house like this, feeling extremely awkward and wondering how he would go about entering and speaking to everyone. Some part of him wished he never left, the other never returned. It would have made everything so much easier, but he found it out first hand, that nothing was ever easy. He sighed deeply, while gripping his helmet tightly. "No turning back now." He whispered to himself and proceeded down the driveway. He stopped right in front of the door, wondering if he should knock or use his keys to get in. Thinking otherwise, he pocketed his keys and lifted a heavy fist to the door. He didn't have to wait long before the door opened.

"Chris!" Abigail yelled in surprise and gave him a hug. "Oh my god, we were so worried about you!" She held him at arms length to examine him. "Are you okay?" She asked as she dragged him into the house and closed the door, afraid he might just run away again.

"I'm fine." Chris said, feeling like a complete stranger in his own home. "Um…I'm gonna try." He said and without another word, went upstairs.

"Chris." His father suddenly called out. He stopped halfway up the stairs and looked back. "I'm glad you're back son." Chris looked at him intently. He clenched his jaw and nodded at him, then proceeded upstairs.

"You two are a lot a like you know that." Abigail said as she approached him from behind and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"That's what I'm afraid of." Nick said as he reached behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulder and brought her to the front of him and kissed the top of her head.

"Well, there's always room for improvement." She smiled and kissed him on the lips.

"Are you being funny, woman?" He smiled down at her.

"Not at all." She said as she left the comfort of his arms and proceeded upstairs with a smirk plastered on her face.

**-Friday-**

"Holy smokes! If it isn't Chris Redfield!" Joseph yelled in the hall as he spotted Chris pulling out the books he needed for class. "Man, didn't think I would ever see you again! What happened?" Joseph asked as he leaned on the locker next to Chris'.

"I, uh, I had the flu. It wasn't great." Chris lied. He wasn't about to tell him all that had occurred during the past few days. He was glad too, that the only person he ran into was Jill, otherwise he would have more explaining to do and he wasn't up to it.

"Really? Your parents said you weren't home though." Joseph was a bit confused.

"Hospital Joe." Chris said as he clasped him on the shoulder and shut his locker door and proceeded to class.

"Damn, was it really that bad?" Joseph said as he followed Chris.

"I prefer not to relive that ordeal." Chris hoped the questions would stop soon otherwise his lie could get totally out of control and that's the last thing he wanted.

"Oh right, sorry." Joseph said, as the first bell to signify the beginning of class rang. "We'll catch up at lunch." He said before entering his class.

"Can't. I have quite a lot of crap to make up." Chris said as he continued to his class.

"_Mr. Frost, would you kindly take your seat so we can begin?_" Chris heard his teacher yell.

"Yeah, yeah…" Joseph stuck his head in to reply and then stuck it back out. "After school…the diner. We'll be there as usual."

"Yep." Chris didn't look back as he continued to walk to class. He didn't have much time before the tardy bell would ring and he didn't want to be late. It may not have been a new week or a new month, but he wanted to turn over a new leaf; be the person he was back home, if only they would allow him to.

**-Emmy's Diner-**

As usual, everyday after class ended, the boys of Raccoon City High would go to Emmy's Diner hoping the girls of Brentwood Academy would grace them with their presence. Today was not an exception and it was partly a reason why Chris decided to tag along. He was hoping Jill would be there so that he could apologize for the other day. As they entered, everyone rounded up at the usual table while Chris discreetly scanned the area.

"Are you okay?" Forest asked, breaking his reverie.

"Wha-? Oh no. I'm fine." Chris said and proceeded towards the table, the guys already engaged in conversation. As he took his seat, he continued to look around but the girls were not at their usual seats. Perhaps they skipped out on today's rendezvous.

"So what are you doing your speech on?" Richard asked the guys.

"I don't know, but this assignment has got me stressed out like I don't know what." Joseph said as he opened his book. Chris had to do a double take. He may have been out for a while, but he knew well enough that the guys only came to the diner to eat, scope out the girls and just fool around, never for a study group. "I need to get a good grade otherwise I can't play and Dave is going to kill me!"

"Same here." Forest said. "Man, I don't know what to do! Chris, you have Sully right? What're you going to do?" Forest asked with concern plastered on his face.

"I really don't know." Chris twirled his pen as he surveyed the area yet again.

"It's on Monday and you don't seem all to worried! You have a plan, right?" Joseph asked.

"No idea. I guess whatever happens…happens, right?" Chris said as he opened his Astronomy book and began jotting down notes. He figured he might as well since the others were "studying" as well. Wouldn't hurt to get some assignments knocked out of the way since the weekend was approaching.

"Man, I don't care. I'm just going to wing it." Joseph said, with a hint of confidence, but he knew when Monday comes, he's going to crash and burn.

"Er…didn't you just say that you needed a good grade to play soccer?" Richard asked.

"Yeah, but I _really_ don't know what to do!" Joseph said.

"You barely thought about it." Forest said.

"Well, thinking gives me a headache!"

"You're not very bright are you?" Richard said.

Chris chuckled lightly as he shook his head. "Why don't you talk about soccer?"

Joseph's eyes immediately lit up. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"And I quote: _Thinking gives me a headache, _end quote." Richard said, causing everyone to laugh. Just then, the front door swung open and the laughter of girls could be heard. Everyone turned their attention to see Alyssa, Ingrid, Ada, Ashley and Jill walk in and take their seats at their usual table.

'_Finally_.'Chris thought as they continued on with their previous conversation.

"What? No superficial comments about them? I'm surprised!" Richard said to Joseph when he didn't say a word about them.

"I'm sure you can stand a day without my snide remarks about them." He said, deeply engaged in his writing assignment.

"Wow, that's a first!" Forest said.

"Isn't it? This really needs to be documented." Richard laughed. Chris smiled and darted his focus from the girl's table to theirs, figuring when would be an appropriate time to interrupt.

'_Oh what the hell._' He thought. "Um, excuse me for a second." Chris did not wait for their reply, as he immediately got up from the table and made his way towards the girls at the other side of the restaurant.

"What the hell is he doing?" Joseph asked as he looked towards Chris and then back to his table.

"I have no idea, but this is mighty interesting!" Forest said.

"Seriously!" Richard agreed.

"Man, why now? Especially when I'm trying to do this!" Joseph said.

"Ladies." Chris greeted the girls as he approached their table.

"Hi Chris." Alyssa said sweetly as the others smiled or mouthed a quiet '_Hi_' towards him.

"Jill..." Chris acknowledged her quietly.

"Chris." She responded rather harshly towards him.

"Can we talk?" He dismissed her attitude and continued.

"Isn't that what we're doing now?" She said.

"I mean in private?" Chris said cautiously as he looked at the other girls situated at the table.

"I have nothing to say to you." She said smugly and pretended to read the menu. The girls began eyeing each other, wondering what the hell was going on and why Chris was speaking to Jill as if he knew her.

"I won't take up a lot of your time. And after this, you'll never hear from me again. If you like, I'll leave every time you're around so that you won't even have to see me."

"If you're going to be this dramatic, then fine." She said as she slammed her hands on the table and stood up. She threw her hands in the air gesturing 'where.'

"Outside…If that's okay with you, that is…"

"Whatever." She said and led the way out. Chris followed her outside without looking back at his table, as they would flash him questionable expressions and he was not in the mood to answer to them just yet.

The guys and girls then threw each other glances across the restaurant, hoping that someone could shed some light on this whole ordeal. Each of them wore a clueless glance and then immediately turned their attention to the window so they could at least watch what was going on. Both of them stopped but Jill was still facing opposite Chris. They saw as Chris' mouth began to move but as Jill turned around to face him, she immediately slapped his face.

"Ooo…" The guys and girls responded as they watched her hand make contact with his face. Chris clutched his face and they saw him mutter something. However, before he could finish his sentence, Jill punched him even harder on his face. "OOhhh." All of them practically yelled. "What the hell happened between these two?" Joseph said unable to contain himself.

"That's going to leave a mark." Ingrid said nonchalantly.

**-Outside-**

"Ow! What the fuck?" Chris yelled as he clutched his face, fearing she would strike him again. Upon hearing the mutters inside the restaurant, he and Jill both turned towards the window only to see everyone's eyes on them. Chris recomposed himself and gave a hard glare while Jill smiled and shrugged at her friends. Chris saw them giggling and he immediately turned to Jill only to see her giggling as well. His expression remained stern as he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her away from the window.

"Ow, what the hell?" Jill said in surprise as she struggled to keep up with him.

**-Inside-**

"NO!" Joseph yelled. "What the hell is going on? I can't see!"

"I think that was the point." Richard said as he returned to his book. "Anyway, it isn't our business."

"Stop being a party pooper." Forest said.

"You didn't let me finish…" Richard said as he turned a page. "It may not be our business, BUT its not like we can't press him for it later."

"You're right." Joseph said as he quickly took a sip of his soda and then returned to his assignment on hand.

"Did anyone else think that they could make a cute couple?" Alyssa said, much to her surprise.

"Has anyone ever told you you're insane?" Ingrid asked.

"So what else is new?" Alyssa smiled, earning a scoff from the other girls.

**-Outside-**

"Why the hell did you have to do that for?" Chris yelled.

"Because I hate you!" She said as she yanked her wrist free of his confining grip.

"You don't even know me." He immediately recomposed himself and spoke to her normally. There wasn't even a trace of anger in his voice and that startled her somewhat because she didn't know how he was going to react from here on end. She has already seen so many sides of him and the fact that she couldn't read him or figure out what he had in mind scared her. She opened her mouth to speak, but instead, he raised a hand to silence her. "Just shut up for a second, okay. I didn't pull you away from your friends to have you beat the shit out of me and not get a word in." He said as he shifted his weight from side to side. Jill had to refrain from smiling as he began rubbing his throbbing head. "I just…yesterday, what I did...I'm really sorry. I don't know what came over me. I guess…I guess I was angry and jealous and…and I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"Jealous?" She asked rather softly. She was hesitant to respond, fearing Chris would shut her down again. "Of whom?"

He chuckled lightly. "Uh, you know, just forget about it. So you can choose to accept my apol…"

"No! You just can't mention something and then refuse to explain. I need to know why I was subjected to such cruelty and made a mockery of. Do you _know_ how humiliated I was?" She said as she crossed her arms beneath her breast.

Chris took a deep breath and began moving dime sized pebbles with his shoe. "I guess…you…" He mumbled.

"I'm sorry?"

"Projection." He suddenly said, bouncing on the balls of his feet. If she wasn't confused the first time, she was now and it certainly showed on her face. "The guys." He said.

"You want to elaborate on that?" She had no idea what the hell he was trying to get at and she was getting rather impatient.

"The guys…" He tried to remain still, but his eyes were shifting in every direction but hers. "Every day since I got here, it was Jill Valentine _this._ Jill _that_. So naturally I…I guess I developed this liking towards you through their projection…and then that day at the museum…"

"Gallery." She didn't have to correct him, but she was starting to feel rather uncomfortable. It sort of broke the awkward tension she was beginning to feel.

"_Gallery_, yes." He chuckled. "Well…but you don't have to worry about it. I probably don't really like you…" _Fuck that came out wrong!_ He thought. "_That_ way," He added. "I don't…" His mind suddenly became jumbled and didn't know what else to say anymore so he continued to stammer.

"Wait…" Jill paused to think. "So you mean to say the whole thing about your mother, was that a lie?" She asked.

It was the first time since they got outside that he became focused. He clenched his jaws tightly as he eyed her. He then took a gulp that felt like the size of a boulder and let out a deep breath. "I…" He paused briefly while trying to gather his thoughts. "I'm sorry." He said with a serious face. He didn't know what became of him. A week ago he was a delinquent, then he was a charmer. Yesterday he was an ass and now he was a liar, well not entirely since he neither agreed nor disagreed with her.

Jill shook her head as she let out a deep breath. She bit her lower lip and clenched her teeth before she began to speak. She was extremely angry, but she was angrier with herself for believing him. "I can't believe you. I knew you walked around town with that 'bad boy,'" She quoted with her fingers, "persona, but _that_ day, I really thought there was more to you." She paused as she eyed him sternly. "I was wrong. You're just like everybody else, if not worse."

Chris stood there, taking it all in, but looking completely stoic as well. "I guess you're right. But like I said, you don't have to worry about it. I'll make it a point to stay out of your way." He smiled. He was about to pat her on her shoulder but before his hand came in contact with her, he stopped mid way and just retracted his hand altogether. "Right well…oh yeah, before I forget, can I have my ID?"

Jill squinted her eyes as she assessed him. Perhaps she was being too hard on him. Nobody is perfect after all, and she can attest to that first hand. She then reached into her back pocket and pulled it out. She took a quick glance at it as she spun it between her fingers with both hands and then handed it over to him. His fingers lightly brushed the tips of hers as he reached for his card. Not wanting to linger any longer than he should, he retracted his hand but Jill resisted when she shouldn't have. He then looked to her, his expression as blank as hers. Just before he opened his mouth to say something, she released the card and let her hand fall to her side. Chris clenched his jaw for what felt like the millionth time while slowly tapping his card on his index finger. Without a word, he turned and walked away, leaving her to herself.

Jill let out a deep breath and leaned on the building next to her as she watched him walk away. "_Why do I feel like I just broke up with someone?_" She thought to herself. "Forget it." She whispered quietly as she righted herself and returned inside the diner and went straight to her table. The guys looked towards her and then to the door, half expecting Chris to walk in after. When they finally noticed he would not, she heard them murmuring among themselves and from her peripheral view, saw them gathering their things to leave.

"And there they go." Ada said as the guys bolted from their table and out the door to find Chris.

"What the hell is going on?" Alyssa asked.

"Nothing." Jill said as if it were nothing.

"_That _was NOT _nothing_." Alyssa said.

"Well if you insist, he just wanted to interview me for a project." She lied, something she was quite good at. "It had to be someone he didn't know."

"Well, he doesn't know me." Ada said with a wink.

Alyssa, as well as the rest of them ignored her. "So what's with all the attitude if he just wanted to interview you?" Alyssa asked.

"I'm a private school girl. That's what we do." Jill said with a raised eyebrow as she picked up her root beer and took a sip.

"Actually, honey, that's what _I_ do. You, well, that was completely out of character." Ada said.

"Exactly." Ingrid said, earning a glare from Jill.

"So you're telling me I can't be a bitch from time to time?" Jill was rather irritated.

"Well, usually not with people you just met." Ingrid said. "You give them a chance first and get to know them. So unless he really wronged you then…" Ingrid didn't get to finish as Ada cut her off.

"What the hell is going on?" Ada asked.

Jill sighed and let out a deep breath she felt she held for ages. Of course, it did nothing to calm her nerves, but it was the 'mechanical' thing to do when beginning a confession, per se. "Alright." She said as she took another deep breath. "But _please_, promise you wont say or _do_ anything." She eyed Ada especially since she tended to act on impulse.

"Fine, just get on with it." Alyssa said in earnest.

"Do you remember the art research paper we had to do?" She asked while everyone groaned and nodded at that disaster of an assignment. "Well, as I was waiting for Scott to, shall we say, _cancel _on me last minute," She paused, feeling a bit hesitant to continue, but did so anyways. "I ran into Chris. Of course, he saw me standing in the middle of 15th and so naturally, he stopped by."

"But you two barely know each other." Alyssa stated matter-of-factly.

"True. But he saw me there alone, trying to get a hold of Desmond to come get me…"

"So he decided to keep you company while you wait?" Alyssa was pressing her.

"And you two spoke and got to know each other!" Ingrid said.

"Well, not exactly…" Jill didn't want to continue, wished she didn't even start in the first place and her face definitely didn't hide the fact she was feeling extremely uncomfortable.

"Can you _please_ get to the point?"

"Alyssa, please." Ada was starting to grow tired of Alyssa's attitude. "There's no need to express jealousy here. There is nothing going on between you two, except for whatever you seem to be concocting in your crazy little head."

"Yeah, didn't you just mention earlier that Chris and Jill looked like a cute couple?" Ingrid blurted. Alyssa immediately eyed her daggers then turned her attention to Jill.

_Oh man_. Jill thought. She definitely did not want to continue. What made her want to tell them was beyond her. Realizing her mistake, Alyssa quickly apologized to her friend. "Jill, I'm sorry. I guess I just have a lot on my plate with the school paper, tests, Mr. Humphrey's bio exam…not to mention David, I guess I just snapped. I'm sorry."

Jill smiled wholeheartedly. She knew first hand just how stressed out Alyssa was, considering her plate consisted of similar troubles. "Its alright Lys."

"Wait, are you and David back together again?" Ingrid asked.

"I don't know." She sighed. "Its just, I still love him and all, but I have this _thing_ for Chris. He's just so, _different_ somehow…"

"Tell me about it." Jill said unbeknownst to her.

"Do you want to elaborate on that?" Ada said with a smirk plastered on her face. Busted! Ingrid and Alyssa both turned to face her, wanting to know what she meant by it as well. It was at that moment that Jill thought otherwise and perhaps it would be best if she stopped her explanation right then and there. She knew however, they would continue to press her for details and she wouldn't be able to avoid it.

"What's going on Jill?" Ingrid asked.

"Nothing." She then took another sip of her root beer, trying to ignore the stares she was receiving.

Ada tilted her head as she stared at Jill, thinking that her expressions under scrutiny might give something away. When she knew it would not work, she suddenly said, "You kissed him didn't you?"

"What?" Alyssa and Jill said in unison.

"No!" Jill said all to quickly. "I…he…well…no!" She fumbled with her words as she struggled to find the right thing to say, to no avail.

Ada giggled. She didn't think it would actually work or that Jill would fall for it. She had to be really stressed out or really phased by what had happened to realize what Ada had done to her. Either way, there was no going back anymore. The cat was out of the bag and they definitely wanted an explanation.

"I can't believe you Jill!" Alyssa said.

"It wasn't my fault!" Jill said, feeling her anger rising. "Its not like I purposely tripped and fell on his lips okay!"

"Okay, whoa, slow down here." Ingrid said. "We don't even know the whole story so just let her explain. For all we know it, he could've been then one who kissed Jill."

"Yes, thank you! Finally." Jill let out a sigh. Finally someone was on her side. She was about to continue when a familiar voice called out her name.

"Jill?" She looked up and found Scott just a few steps away from their table. Everyone suddenly quieted, hoping that he didn't hear their conversation, but from the look on his face, they knew he had heard everything.

"Scott! What are you doing here?" Jill asked hoping she didn't sound too surprised.

"Its five o'clock." He said through clenched teeth.

Jill then glanced at her watch and let out a soft grunt. "So it is." She said, "I'll see you girls tomorrow." Jill began gathering her things but before she had a chance to exit the table, Ada softly grabbed her wrist, stalling her. Everyone knew Scott was mad and would no sooner demand an explanation as to who Jill was kissing other than him as soon as they were out of an earshot.

"Jill wait." Ada wanted to give her some back up ammo if things got extremely heated between the two. "Scott, could you give us a minute?" She asked nicely as to not provoke his already foul mood.

Scott scoffed in annoyance. "No, you know what, she won't stay back to explain this story to you while I wait outside for her! Grow up you silly fucking wench!" He practically yelled.

"Scott!" Jill yelled, surprised he would address one of her closest friends that way.

"Oh!" Ada raised a delicately shaped eyebrow at the matter. "_Wench_ am I?" She forced out a mechanical laugh. "You're one to talk aren't you?" She said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Ada..." Ingrid began tugging at her sleeve while Alyssa shot them confused glances. This was definitely not the time and place to discuss such delicate matters. "No. Not now and not here." She whispered to her, but Ada held her smirk, challenging Scott.

"Ada what's going on? What are you talking about? Scott?" Jill asked.

"Let's just get out of here Jill." Scott said while eyeing Ada, daring her to say another word.

"What's the matter Scott?" Ada said. "Why don't you tell her the truth on why you _suddenly_ cancel on her, or why you're often late, or why…"

"Ada, you have no business interfering!" Scott interrupted. Jill was still confused as to what the hell was going on but seeing how Scott and Ada were extremely angry, she knew something was definitely out of the ordinary.

"Jill, I'm sorry, but I can't take this anymore." She said in a low angry whisper that only the five of them could hear. "I can't stand here and watch him hurt you like this!"

"What's going on?" Jill asked hesitantly as she was afraid to hear the outcome.

"Jill don't listen to her! She's only trying to make you miserable because _she's_ miserable!" Scott said.

"Jill, he's cheating on you." Ada wished like hell that she didn't have to say it to her. Jill just sat there quietly but her mind was working a mile a minute trying to put things together from what she knew and from what she had heard. She didn't want to admit it but it all made sense to her now.

"Is this…" She paused, trying desperately to get the last word out. "true?" She said quietly as she held back tears that began to pool at her eyes.

"Jill, no! They're just trying to break us up!" He said as he knelt down beside her and clasped his hands over hers. "Real friends would never make up stories to hurt you if they weren't jealous!"

"We have proof." Alyssa said unenthusiastically as she knew it was going to hurt Jill as more than the others. She then reached into her bag and brought out some pictures. Jill took her hands out of his and with a shaky hand she tried to steady, she reached over the table for the photos.

"The three of us were out one night and we saw him. We thought he was with you, but we had just dropped you off." Ingrid began to explain softly as Jill shuffled through the photos. Each one captured him in an intimate position with a different girl. Jill was extremely overwhelmed and couldn't contain it any longer as her tears began streaming down her face.

"Ada suggested we follow him and so we did." Alyssa didn't need to continue, as the outcome of it was quite obvious.

"Jill, I can explain." Scott began to panic.

"Don't." She whispered as the pictures slid from her fingers and onto the floor in front of him. There was no way he could refute what had been captured in vivid color. "How could you?" She said quietly in between sobs. "The both of you." She referred to Scott and Ada. "You two were so angry with one another that you could only think of hurting each other. Not once did you put _my_ feelings in perspective and see how this would affect me! I'm so humiliated." She couldn't hold it any longer and needed to get away. She abruptly stood from the table and walked quickly out the door while wiping her tears away. For one so young, she handled herself with grace and didn't make a public fool out of herself by yelling all sorts of obscenities like some others her age would most likely do. She also didn't think it was worth her time and effort to run a tirade on someone who probably wouldn't catch the point of it.

"Jill!" Scott called out. He stood and proceeded to follow her but Ada grabbed him by the wrist. Alyssa and Ingrid took this time to gather their belongings and chase after her while he was detained.

"Listen here dickweed, you _stay_ the hell away from her or I will personally hand your ass to you in a paper bag. Got it?" Ada didn't wait for his reply as she grabbed her bag and stalked out the front door.

Jill couldn't believe this actually happened to her. She seen it all the time among her peer, movies but never in a million years, perhaps millions would be stretching it, but never did she believe it would happen to her. She had many problems but she didn't think this would be one of it. That was the problem, she _didn't _think, that's why she missed it. Damn her for being so naïve! She sniffled and took a deep breath. If only these tears would cease but it hurt so damn much. She knew she would get over it eventually and learn from her mistakes but she felt so betrayed and to put it lamely, so damn stupid. Only a high school girl would be so stupid not to notice something so blatant. She was so furious with Scott and mostly with herself that she wanted to just scream to vent out her frustrations but passersby would think she escaped from a mental institute and that was the last thing she wanted. Funny how she found it strangely amusing she was able to make light of her situation. Despite that, she was still upset and very emotional. She continued to walk aimlessly around the park while trying to end the steady flow of her tears, but to no avail. She cursed herself for being so vulnerable.

Jill Valentine, vulnerable? Ha! Who would've thought? She carried herself so well in the public eye that everyone perceived her as a strong, smart, stylish, humble but when need be, arrogant woman. But that is exactly what she was, a _woman…_fragile and emotional behind a composed outer shell, something she worked hard on to create. Why, if only her peers could see her now. She wanted to laugh out loud in the irony of it all, but there were too much tears and all she could do was cry, while she let out a hearty chuckle. She took another deep breath as she gently wiped her tear stained cheek. She was determined to not let anyone see her cry, but as she looked straight upon the sidewalk she treaded on, it was too late. Of all people to catch her at her weakest!

Chris had already stopped a few feet away from her when he spotted her and watched as she came to a stumbling halt, obviously surprised to see him there. She tried quickly to recompose herself but the ragged breath she involuntarily took gave everything away and her tears continued to flow freely. Curse them yet again!

Chris felt so heartbroken to see her standing there. To think he caused her all this pain! He wanted nothing more than to walk up to her, wipe her tears away and apologize for everything but he just couldn't find the strength to approach her. He admired her though. In that very instance he witnessed her vulnerability but she handled it gracefully, noting how gently she brushed her tears away not out of discomfiture but out of propriety, especially in a place so public.

Despite feeling like a ton of bricks had been dropped on her head, looking at Chris with that sorry expression lightened her mood. Perhaps in some perverse way, she took comfort in his discomfort.

"What's the matter? Never seen a girl cry before?" Jill asked, deciding to play on this chance before she missed it. Chris didn't respond as quickly as she wanted him to.

Without another thought, he wiped that sorry look from his face and replied with equal banter. "What's the matter with me? What's the matter with you? You can change your attitude from a sweet, compassionate girl, to a smart, capable woman, to someone who's completely insane! Food for thought, you need to get yourself checked." Chris said feeling bad for the verbal attack, but he hoped it could work as a "reverse psychology" type thing and get her to forget about what she was crying about. If only he could stand his ground and not break. One, two, three, four…He couldn't even last five seconds without faltering. What the hell has gotten into him, he didn't know. In the face of danger, per se, he was hard as steel, but for some reason with her around, he cracked like a cheap vase and was unstable as a glop of Jello. Jill was about to respond but she immediately noticed a change of his expression. "But no." Chris said as she was about to catch him on his sudden change. "I haven't seen a girl cry before…" He paused and looked her in the eye. "…not when I was the one who caused it." If Jill wasn't shocked when he caught her crying, she was definitely shocked now. _He thinks he made me cry_. She thought while trying to steady her breath. She wanted to explain to him that he wasn't the cause of her drama, but for some reason, she couldn't find her voice to explain. "I'm sorry." He finally said and turned and walked away.

**~Fin**


End file.
